Ethical tension in nursing education: a challenge for faculty values and beliefs

The culture of the academic setting can be fraught with tension filled ethical situations challenging faculty relations with students and colleagues. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the process that occurs when nursing faculty encounter tension filled situations affecting their ethical values and beliefs in the education setting.

A grounded theory approach was employed to achieve data saturation from interviews of thirteen faculty representing eight colleges/universities in three states of the MidAtlantic region of the United States.

The Basic Social Psychological Process that emerged from the data demonstrated faculty efforts toward safeguarding profession, student, and self. Three concepts: experiencing, identifying, and resolving evolved.

Data evidenced that ethical tension negatively influences one's work-life balance, and civility with faculty and students. Implications for balancing these influences and working toward a harmonious environment are provided.