Qualitative Research Findings of the DAYAN Project Were Presented at EACME 2026

Findings from the qualitative phase of the DAYAN research project, carried out under the TÜBİTAK 3005 program, were shared at the Annual Conference of the European Association of Centres of Medical Ethics (EACME), hosted by KU Leuven in Leuven, Belgium on 24–26 September 2026.

In the parallel session titled "Moral Distress, Moral Injury and Moral Resilience", held on Friday, 25 September 2026, our project team delivered two oral presentations:

Opening the session, Aylin Ece Şahin presented the study titled “Moral Injury and Moral Agency among Healthcare Workers after the 2023 Türkiye Earthquakes: A Grounded Theory Analysis”, prepared together with Fatih Bilgili, Ayşenur Daldaban Berberoğlu, Sevim Coşkun, Deniz Birtan, Hüseyin Erkut Söğüt and Mustafa Volkan Kavas. The presentation shared the findings of the grounded theory analysis conducted in the qualitative phase of the research.

Later in the session, M. Volkan Kavas gave his presentation titled “From Moral Injury to Resilience: Reclaiming Moral Agency in the Aftermath of the 2023 Türkiye Earthquakes”. This presentation addressed healthcare workers' experiences of moral injury following the February 6 earthquakes, their moral resilience, and the processes through which they regain their moral agency.

The qualitative findings from the interviews showed that healthcare workers experienced loneliness and a lack of institutional support during the disaster, and that they held on to solidarity, particularly within small teams, to cope with difficult working and living conditions. The research also revealed that the narratives of healthcare workers who directly experienced the disaster differed from those of colleagues who came to the region from elsewhere to provide support, and that these processes affected not only their professional practices but also their self-worth and their personal and professional integrity.

In the next phases of the research, the aim is to re-engage healthcare workers in the process through focus group discussions and workshops, to evaluate the findings together, and to develop institutional recommendations for disaster periods.

Details of the conference programme are available on the EACME 2026 website https://eacme2026.org/ and the Scientific Programme page https://eacme2026.org/scientific-program/