Horizontal Violence in the Nursing Work Environment: Beyond Oppressed Group Behavior

<p>The United States has been experiencing a nursing shortage since the mid-1990s. The shortage is expected to deepen as the provisions of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are enacted. Horizontal violence is a negative phenomenon in the nursing workplace that contributes to difficulty in recruiting and retaining nurses in hospitals. Horizontal violence has been described as a form of mistreatment, spoken or unspoken, that is threatening, humiliating, disrespectful or accusatory towards a peer. The effects of this nurse on nurse aggression can be devastating for the nurse involved and also for the patients under the nurse's care.</p> <p>Nursing and social science literature have advanced oppressed‐group behaviors as a motivating factor driving this phenomenon in nursing. Workplace stress has also been implicated in these negative behaviors. This study used a grounded theory approach to examine how nurses explain, through semi‐structured and open ended interviews, the phenomenon of horizontal violence in the nursing workplace. The primary outcome of this study was a small scale theory focused specifically on horizontal violence in the nursing work environment. The theory that emerged from this analysis was that horizontal violence can be influenced by other environmental factors beyond oppression theory. The results from the data indicated that these behaviors, described as horizontal violence, may be employed as a method of manipulating the care environment in an effort to enhance patient outcomes while maintaining group or individual perception of security through a sense of environmental control.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Year

2011

Author dc:creator

• Mendez, Therese M

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kieff, PhD, Judith; O'Hanlon, PhD, Ann
• Bedford, PhD, April
• Sheehan-McHugh, PhD, Patricia

• Nursing Shortage
• Nurse Retention
• Bullying
• Patient Safety
• Oppression
• Grounded Theory
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Health and Medical Administration
• Nursing
• Other Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1377

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2378