“Mutual Respect Would be a Good Starting Point:” Students’ Perspectives on Incivility in Nursing Education

Abstract

Background Studies indicate that incivility is common in nursing education and perpetuated by both students and faculty. Academic incivility negatively affects the well-being of those involved, interferes with the teaching–learning process, and is antithetical to nursing as a caring profession. An understanding of academic incivility is essential to establish best practices to address this problem. Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine incivility in nursing academia from the perspective of baccalaureate nursing students. Methods The study was conducted using a cross-sectional design, with a mixed method questionnaire administered to 380 students. The quantitative data were analyzed descriptively and qualitative data through content analysis. Results The majority of students thought incivility is a mild to moderate problem in nursing education. They thought that students contribute to incivility by not taking responsibility (being unprepared and being disinterested) for their education and by not being professional (being disrespectful and being uncaring) and faculty contribute by not being good teachers (being authoritarian, treating students unfairly, having ineffective teaching methods) and not being professional (being disrespectful, lacking compassion). Conclusion Until evidence is available for effective measures to address incivility, nursing schools should consider adopting strategies for solutions as suggested by the students in this study.

Exploration of Cybercivility in Nursing Education Using Cross-Country Comparisons

“…Students, faculty members, and health professionals are professionally required to commit themselves to building respectful and appropriate learning/working environments that promote effective communication and collaboration [ 45 ]. Learning about mutual respect in cyberspace is a good starting point for addressing incivility and establishing a safe and supportive learning environment [ 46 ].…”

A Call to Revisit and Address the Histories of Bullying in Nursing Education

“…More recently, it has come to light that not only is experiencing bullying an issue but witnessing it is also problematic (Báez-León et al, 2016;MacCurtain et al, 2018). While in this paper we focus on the experience of students, it is important to note that nursing faculty may also experience bullying or incivility (Gazza, 2009;Small et al, 2019).…”

“…As an example, 89% of surveyed nursing students in a Canadian school of nursing reported experiencing bullying (Clarke et al, 2012). A 2019 study of Canadian nursing students likewise found that 87% felt that "incivility" in nursing education was a problem (Small et al, 2019). Bishop (2004) conducted a qualitative analysis of the experiences of practising nurses while Hunt and Marini (2012) looked specifically at the experiences of clinical instructors.…”

Nursing students’ experiences of bullying in clinical practice

“…Several scholars concur that bullying begins during undergraduate nursing education and continues to thrive in nursing practice. [6,9,[11][12][13][14] Undergraduate nursing students are expected to complete a minimum amount of clinical practice hours as part of their undergraduate nursing program. For example, in Australia, nursing students must undertake a minimum of 800 clinical placement hours in their undergraduate nursing program.…”