Psychological well-being of higher education nursing professors: Scoping review protocol

Introduction: Workplace well-being is essential for professionals’ health and satisfaction, influencing organizational success. Among lecturers, including nursing faculty in higher education, high demands and publication pressure compromise well-being, with high levels of emotional exhaustion identified. Promoting well-being is crucial for student success, professional performance, and healthy academic environments. Therefore, it is essential for institutions to integrate development programs that include well-being promotion strategies, recognizing the workplace as a strategic setting for health and disease prevention, thereby improving teaching quality and professional satisfaction. Objectives: To map scientific evidence on the psychological well-being of higher education faculty. Methodology: Scoping review protocol based on Joanna Briggs Institute and PRISMA-ScR®. Research conducted in August 2025 using the descriptors “psychological well-being", “mental health”, “emotional well-being", “life satisfaction”, “burnout”, “stress”, “resilience”, “nursing faculty”, “nursing professors”, “nursing educators”, “academic staff”, “higher education”, “university” and “college” in MEDLINE Complete® (via PubMed®), SCOPUS®, CINAHL Complete®, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews®, MedicLatina® (via EBSCOhost®), and Consensus®. Studies on the psychological well-being of nursing faculty in higher education, in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, available in free full text, were considered. Selection will be done in Rayyan® by two independent reviewers, with a third reviewer resolving disagreements. Data will be organized in tables by the authors. Registered in Open Science Framework® (DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/N7YHP). Conclusion: This scoping review will map the available evidence on the psychological well-being of nursing faculty in higher education, highlighting key constructs, risk and protective factors, and knowledge gaps to support future research and institutional strategies.