Faculty-student boundaries in associate degree nursing programs

Professionals are called to high standards of behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate nursing faculty beliefs about appropriate behaviors for nurse educators. Nursing faculty are generally conservative in their beliefs and even more conservative in their actions. Three behaviors of educators are universally viewed as inappropriate: telling a student of the educator's sexual attraction; sexual involvement with a current student; and making deliberate or repeated sexual comments, gestures, or physical contact that are unwanted by the student. Insulting or ridiculing an absent student and insulting or ridiculing a present student were considered appropriate by few respondents (5% and 2.1%, respectively). Little guidance exists for nursing faculty in determining the appropriateness of various behaviors. This exploratory research gives an introductory view of faculty perceptions of appropriate teacher behaviors.