Nursing Program Attributes Contributing to a Culture of Civility

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Organizational Psychology
• Workplace Behavior

Background:

• Faculty-to-faculty incivility presents a persistent challenge in nursing education, leading to significant physical and psychological distress for those affected.
• Existing research primarily addresses the incidence and impact of incivility, with less focus on factors fostering a civil environment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate specific nursing program attributes that contribute to a culture of workplace civility.
• To identify characteristics of academic environments that promote or hinder civility among nursing faculty.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods approach was employed, utilizing the Work-place Incivility/Civility Survey for data collection.
• Quantitative data were analyzed using group means and analysis of variances, while qualitative data underwent thematic analysis.

Main Results:

• Key program attributes influencing workplace civility included the number of faculty, geographical location, teaching environment, and faculty diversity.
• Specific faculty sizes (fewer than 10 or more than 50), western US locations, increased faculty diversity, and online teaching environments were associated with higher levels of civility.

Conclusions:

• Nursing programs with distinct faculty sizes (very small or very large), greater faculty diversity, and those located in the western US reported higher workplace civility.
• Online program delivery and diverse faculty composition appear to be significant factors in cultivating a more civil academic setting for nursing educators.