Available online 2 December 2023

Author links open overlay panelAbstractBackground

Incivility continues to impact nursing education, necessitating continued exploration of incivility experiences, causes, and interventions.

Purpose

This study examined relationships between nurse educators’ reflections on their own and peers’ civility-related behaviors.

Method

Nurse educators (n = 82) at 20 Midwestern prelicensure nursing programs completed an online survey utilizing the Clark Workplace Civility Index ©, followed by reflective Likert-style and demographic questions.

Findings

Participants scored their own civility behaviors higher (M = 82.59) than peers’ (M = 73.5) (t = 8.911, p = 0.000). With implementation of civility interventions in the nursing program, self (t = 2.7, p = 0.007) and peer (t = 4.0, p = 0.000) scores were higher compared to programs without. Over one-third (34.1%) of participants were neutral or disagreed that nursing education is a civil profession.

Discussion

Ongoing efforts toward civil environments are needed in nursing education.

Section snippetsBackground

Uncivil behavior in nursing education, whether on-campus or online, disrupts the academic environment and may lead to faculty attrition. Recent research by Butler and Strouse (2022) highlights that previous studies on incivility in nursing education have primarily focused on students, neglecting faculty behavior. Incivility, as described by Lane et al. (2021) and Rejo and Ledesma Ortega (2016), involves repetitive low-intensity deviant behavior contrary to respectful social norms.

Clark et al.

Theoretical Framework

The Social Cognitive Theory and Objective Self-Awareness Theory provided theoretical support for this study. The Social Cognitive Theory suggests that individuals are both active in their environment and influenced by it and that they learn and reproduce behaviors based on observations within that environment (Bandura, 2005). The Objective Self-Awareness Theory has evolved over the years and suggests that individuals can focus on themselves to self-evaluate the potential outcome of changing

Design and Instrumentation

This was a descriptive, explorational study focused on how civility behaviors are perceived, as well as their impacts, in nursing education. The primary research question for this study was: What is the relationship between nurse educators’ self-reflections of their civility behaviors and their reflections of their peers’ civility behaviors? Additional secondary research questions were developed to further explore the overall reflection on the civility of nursing education as a profession, as

Results

For each WCI question, participants consistently scored themselves higher than their peers when reflecting on workplace civility behaviors, with the mean total for self at 82.59 (SD = 5.911) and the mean total for peers at 73.5 (SD = 9.636). There was a significant positive correlation (r = 0.381, p < 0.0001) between the participants’ own scores and the civility scores they assigned to their peers. When nurse educators scored themselves higher, they also scored their peers higher. In looking at

Discussion and Interpretation

As noted by the Social Cognitive Theory and Objective Self-Awareness Theory, individuals are both active in their environment and influenced by it as individuals. They learn and reproduce behaviors based on what they observe. They can focus on themselves to self-evaluate and change. For these reasons, reflections on self and peers will be critical in improving civility in nursing education and beyond (Bandura, 2005; Silvia & Duval, 2001). One of the recurring themes noted in the review and

Summary

This study examined relationships between self-reflection of civility-related behaviors and reflection on the perceived behavior of peers by nurse educators working ADN and BSN programs. The Clark Workplace Civility Index © was utilized. Throughout the study results, participants scored themselves higher than their peers. This scoring may be partially explained by the better than average effect, but it also demonstrates that efforts toward improving the overall civility within the workplace are

CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement

Kelly A. Cole EdD, RN, CNE: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data Curation, Writing (Original Draft - Reviewing - Editing); Visualization, Supervision, and Project Administration. (Funding Acquisition - Not Applicable).

Declaration of Competing Interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to acknowledge and express gratitude to the following:

Their dissertation committee—Marilyn Moore EdD (chair), Lin Hughes RN, BSN, MS, Ph.D., CNE, and Marcia Kube EdD, RN, CNE; as well as June Smith Ph.D., MSN, RN (statistician).

Dr. Cynthia Clark for the permission to utilize her tool, her continued support and her ongoing civility efforts.

Dr. Marilyn Oermann for her support, guidance in continued editing, and wisdom.

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process

During the preparation of this work the author(s) used ChatGPT (3.5) (https://chat.openai.com/) in order to help improve clarity and length in the literature review areas, and the conclusion. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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