Nursing students' experiences and responses to faculty incivility: a grounded theory approach

Abstract

In nursing education, faculty incivility toward students is a serious issue that affects the quality of nursing programs and is a precursor to incivility in the nursing workforce. Recent studies demonstrate that more nursing faculty members than previously thought engage in uncivil behaviors toward students. Faculty incivility can be distressing to nursing students and negatively impact learning environments, student learning, and perhaps patient outcomes. Little is known, however, about how students perceive experiences of faculty incivility and how these experiences unfold. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to develop a theoretical framework that describes how incidents of faculty incivility toward traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students unfold. Thirty traditional BSN students from the National Student Nurses Association who had experienced faculty incivility participated in a semi-structured interview. Analysis of the participants’ narratives was done in two phases. In Study Part 1, content analytic procedures were used to develop a typology that describes six types of faculty incivility that were labeled as follows: judging or labeling students, impeding student progress, picking on students, putting students on the spot, withholding instruction, and forcing students into no-win situations. In Study Part 2, constant comparison analysis was conducted. Segments of data were coded, similar codes were grouped into categories, the dimensions of the categories were determined, and the categories were organized into the final framework. The framework depicts a three-stage process with a focus on strategies students use to manage faculty incivility. The strategies were labelled as followed: seeking help from other professors, commiserating with peers, going up “the chain of command,” keeping one’s “head down,” getting professional help, and giving oneself a “pep-talk.” The findings provide a foundation for the development of programs to reduce faculty incivility in BSN programs and to help students manage it when it occurs.