Date of Award
Fall 12-2011
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Program
Curriculum & Instruction
Department
Curriculum and Instruction
Major Professor
Kieff, PhD, Judith; O'Hanlon, PhD, Ann
Second Advisor
Bedford, PhD, April
Third Advisor
Sheehan-McHugh, PhD, Patricia
Abstract
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.
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.
Recommended Citation
Mendez, Therese M., "Horizontal Violence in the Nursing Work Environment: Beyond Oppressed Group Behavior" (2011). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1377.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1377
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Health and Medical Administration Commons, Nursing Commons, Other Education Commons
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.