Student incivility: Nursing faculty lived experience

Abstract

Student incivility against nursing faculty is recognized as an area of increased concern in nursing education. The negative experience that this may potentially have on nursing faculty is disturbing. The purpose of this study was to elicit an understanding of the experiences and impact nursing faculty encountered with nursing student incivility using a phenomenological research design. Twelve nursing faculty members from seven mid-western universities provided rich descriptions of their experiences with student incivility. Colaizzi’s analysis method was used to create clusters that resulted in six identified themes, including: (a) Faculty are subjected to a variety of unacceptable student behaviors;
(b) Dealing with incivility is time consuming; (c) An aftermath of incivility can tarnished one’s reputation; (d) Support from others is beneficial; (e) Can cause harm to one’s health and well-being; and (f) May result in questioning the future. Findings support the view that nursing student incivility is becoming more widespread on college campuses and can have devastating effects on nursing faculty members. This information strongly suggests the importance of identifying contributing factors of incivility present in nursing students and implementing new and more effective policies and strategies to address and prevent this increasingly prevalent problem.