Abstracts Psychology

Investigating generational differences of perceived uncivilized behaviors between students and faculty in nursing education

by Wendy J Unison-Pace

This quantitative study, completed in a mid-Atlantic coastal state, examined generational differences in nursing education related to perceptions of incivility. For this study, the Incivility in Nursing Education-Revised (INE-R) survey was administered to determine the behaviors nursing students and nursing faculty identified as being uncivil in nursing education and to determine participants’ generational cohorts. Participants’ generations were identified by birth year, allowing participants to be placed in a precise generational cohort without regard to those born on the cusp of a generation. Social exchange theory guided this study. This theory explains human behavior in terms of an exchange of mutually similar behaviors based on perceptions of personal, cultural, and environmental life experiences that occurred during an individual’s generation. Findings indicate factors differed among the generational cohorts, particularly between millennials and other generations. No significant difference was found between nursing faculty and nursing students’ perceptions of what was considered uncivilized behaviors. Implications for nursing educators are discussed and suggestions for future research identified. Learning the extent to which incivility is perceived differently by nursing faculty and students based on specific generational issues of each cohort could be used to conduct further research in nursing education.