Date of Award
5-2025
Degree Type
Honors College Thesis
Academic Program
Nursing BSN
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Dr. Mayantoinette Watson
Advisor Department
Nursing
Abstract
The purpose of this honors thesis was to obtain descriptive data about how nursing students at the University of Southern Mississippi School of Professional Nursing Practice perceive lateral violence in their clinical rotations and educational environments. This Honors thesis is significant to nursing because although lateral violence is a well-researched topic among scholars of nursing practice, there is little gathered data regarding lateral violence among nursing students, specifically at the University of Southern Mississippi. Nursing students are a vital population to examine because nursing students are often first exposed to lateral violence within a clinical setting, leading to early internalization of this persistent problem. The research design used quantitative methodology, and the approach was a descriptive survey, with the survey being developed by the researcher. The survey inquired about students’ experiences and perceptions of lateral violence within a clinical setting and contained 12 questions. Forty-four students responded to the survey, and participants reported the highest reported horizontal violence behaviors directed by fellow nursing students included: unreasonable criticism (47.7%), purposeful disinterest (29.5%), and hurtful remarks (25%). The highest reported horizontal violence behaviors that were directed by clinical nursing instructors included: unreasonable criticism (45.5%), hurtful remarks (31.8%), and purposefully not helping (20.5%). Over half of the participants (54.5%) stated that the events were not reported. 54.5% of participants were willing to answer questions about horizontal events revealing that 91.7% of participants did not report the event and 8.3% felt that the event was not resolved appropriately. 25% of the participants were negatively affected by the event while only 33.3% of participants felt that there was an appropriate resolution to the event. Only 4 (16.7%) of participants received information on nurse bullying while in nursing school.
Copyright
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Recommended Citation
Owens, Aika, "Lateral Violence Awareness in Nursing Students at the University of Southern Mississippi" (2025). Honors Theses. 1064.
https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/1064