The moral deliberation process of college nursing professors in view of moral distress.

STUDY AIM: To discover college nursing professors' deliberation and coping strategies in view of moral distress.

DESIGN: Qualitative study with a descriptive and exploratory design.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The participants were 12 college nursing professors who taught at three public universities in Brazil.

METHODS: The adapted Delphi method was applied. The data were collected in three phases with concomitant data collection and analysis.

FINDINGS: Moral distress in teaching can lead to the development of strategies that promote moral deliberation through individual and collective actions, including the defense of principles and dialogue. At the same time, it can produce compensatory mechanisms of preservation and no personal involvement, as well as perceptions of impotence and discouragement, which do not lead to the construction of alternatives of resistance and deliberation. There is no polarization between professor who deliberate or not, as these can be mobile positions taken at certain times and in certain situations, influenced by bonds and support conquered in the group, and not just by leadership and personal characteristics.

CONCLUSION: Dialogue is a fundamental tool for the practice of moral deliberation in the conflicts and challenges of teaching work.

DESCRIPTORS: Faculty, Nursing; Moral Development; Choice Behavior; Interpersonal Relations.