Faculty and student assessment of and experience with incivility in nursing education

Academic incivility is a significant problem and reports of discord on college campuses underscore the need for addressing uncivil behaviors in a forthright manner. In this study, 504 respondents from 41 states--194 nursing faculty, 306 nursing students, and 4 who did not specify their status--completed the Incivility in Nursing Education survey. The most frequently cited uncivil student behaviors included holding distracting conversations, using computers unrelated to class, and demanding make-up examinations and grade changes. The uncivil student behaviors occurring most frequently were arriving late for class, holding distracting conversations, and being unprepared. The uncivil faculty behaviors most frequently cited included making condescending remarks, making rude gestures or comments, and exerting superiority over others. The uncivil faculty behaviors occurring most frequently included ineffective teaching methods, arriving late for scheduled activities, and deviating from the syllabus and changing class assignments. Student and faculty uncivil behaviors were viewed similarly by both groups.