Examining Incivility, Stress, Well-Being, and Program Satisfaction of Undergraduate Nursing Students

Determining the extent of incivility in nursing education is critical for creating potential interventions. A survey to measure incivility, stress, well-being, and program satisfaction was developed by faculty in one Canadian nursing program.

A cross-sectional research design was used to pilot the survey. Descriptive statistics including correlations were used to analyze the data.

Some of the participants reported observing other students making negative verbal remarks (42.9%) to faculty or other students, while 26.8% of participants engaged in indirect negative remarks. Receiving and engaging in incivility were strongly correlated. Fifty percent of the participants were academically stressed, correlating with incivility. Students generally were satisfied with their academic program.

Although incivility is reported as occurring in nursing education, not all students observed, received, or engaged in uncivil behaviors. Receiving incivility was associated with nursing students engaging in uncivil behaviors, highlighting a need for strategies to prevent or mitigate the perpetuation of incivility in undergraduate nursing education.