Date
10-16-2025
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Russell Yocum
Keywords
hermeneutic phenomenology, nursing, nursing education, nurse educators, academic administrators, change, learning environment, attrition, leadership change, nursing administrators
Disciplines
Curriculum and Instruction | Education
Recommended Citation
Dionne, Anny, "A Phenomenological Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Educators in Nursing Programs Experiencing Changes in Academic Nurse Administrators from High Attrition" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7527.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7527
Abstract
The purpose of this hermeneutical study was to describe and interpret the lived experiences of educators in nursing programs who experienced changes in academic nurse administrators at colleges and universities in a southern state in the United States. Nursing academic administrators influence the quality of nursing programs. Changes in academic administrators are experienced by educators of nursing programs, who, in turn, contribute to the students' learning experience. Stress is perceived differently in individuals. Lazarus and Folkman's transactional theory of stress and coping (TTSC) is the theory guiding this study. This theory examines how individuals interpret and react to events. The study's central question was, "What are the lived experiences of educators in nursing programs experiencing changes in academic administrators? Approximately 200 combined nursing programs are located geographically within three counties of a southern region of the United States. The participants for this study were nurse educators teaching in nursing programs and members of a professional nursing association within a southern state of the United States. Data were collected and triangulated through interviews, a focus group, and protocol writings. A hermeneutical framework posited by Van Manen (2016) was utilized to analyze the data. The findings of this study were categorized into four themes, which captured how faculty experienced and managed continual leadership turnover. Collectively, the four themes mapped a trajectory in which repeated administrator turnover first creates organizational instability that leads to emotional and professional disruption, constrained coping resources, which culminate in reduced morale and unmet goals, but shine a light on the use of peer relationships as support and prompting individualized problem-focused responses.
