Nurse educators' lived experiences with student incivility

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Date
2011
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Volume Title
Publisher
University of Alabama Libraries
Abstract

Incivility is currently a topic of concern in nursing and higher education. There is a serious and growing concern on college campuses across the United States as many forms of incivility are occurring, ranging from offensive language and rude behavior to hostility and violent behavior. The problem this study addresses is the need for specific information from nurse educators about their experiences with student incivility, and the subsequent impact of those experiences on teaching practices, job perception, and interactions with students. This study also addresses the problem by asking nurse educators their thoughts on contributing factors, warning signs, prevention and management, and the impact of incivility on student learning. An interpretive phenomenological approach was used to frame the research. The study employed a purposive sample group consisting of 10 Associate Degree Nurse (ADN) educators having experience with student incivility. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using an interview guide. Interviews were used to elicit individual experiences with incivility and provide a means for those impacted to describe and define the meaning of those experiences. General inductive data analysis was utilized to identify themes followed by thematic analysis to arrive at the various understandings and meanings applied to the experiences. Themes emerged, which aligned with and assisted to answer the research questions. The participants clearly asserted their belief that student incivility in nurse education is a growing and disturbing problem and negatively impacting nurse educators and the teaching and learning dynamic. Identified incivilities encompassed a wide range of behaviors and elicited strong emotional responses by many of the participants. Many nurse educators described how student incivility had impacted the perception of their job, their teaching, and interfered with student interactions and student learning. Educators also reported changes with their description, definition, or understanding of student incivility following their experiences. Implications for nursing policy and practice relate to training nurse educators about the expectations of the teaching role and how to address, prevent and manage student incivility. Implications for nursing also include training students about the demanding nature of nurse education and the professional nursing role to promote awareness and prevent incivility.

Description
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Keywords
Nursing, Higher education, Community college education
Citation