Nursing students' experiences and perceptions of aggression

Design: The descriptive study.

Methods: This was a descriptive study comprising students in their second, third, and fourth years in the Faculty of Health Sciences during the spring term of the 2015–2016 academic year. An explanation of the aim of this study was provided to the participants, and the written approval of 213 students was obtained before the study was commenced. A Personal Information Form and the Perception of Aggression Scale were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics and the Kruskal-Wallis Test were used in data analysis.

Results: The mean age of the students was 21.61 (± 6.93). Most students (98.1%) had received no training on how to interact with angry or aggressive individuals, 11.3% thought that they were unable to provide care to aggressive individuals, and 21.6% wished to receive training on interacting with such individuals. More than half of the students (54.4%) reported that they were unable to interact with angry and aggressive individuals. The mean score of the functional sub-dimension was 3.16 (± 0.59), and the mean score of the dysfunctional sub-dimension was 2.35 (± 0.49).

Conclusion: Student nurses are often the target of angry and aggressive behavior during their clinical practice, are negatively mentally affected when exposed to aggression, and do not receive enough instruction in how to engage with aggressive individuals. Their negative perceptions of aggression were formed during their undergraduate education.