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‘Don’t rock the boat’: nursing students’ experiences of conformity and compliance

‘Don’t rock the boat’: nursing students’ experiences of conformity and compliance
‘Don’t rock the boat’: nursing students’ experiences of conformity and compliance
Aim: this paper profiles a cross national case study that examined nursing students’ experience of belongingness when undertaking clinical placements. The aim of the paper is to present selected findings that focus on the relationship between belongingness, conformity and compliance.

Background: literature from the disciplines of psychology, social science and nursing is presented as a background to the study.

Methods: this was a mixed methods case study; in this paper the qualitative phase is described. Eighteen third year nursing students from two universities in Australia and one in the United Kingdom were interviewed and the data thematically analysed.

Findings: three sub themes emerged within the category of conformity and compliance. These included: Don’t rock the boat; getting the RNs offside; and speaking up. Students described how and why they adopted or adapted to the teams’ and institution’s values and norms, rather than challenging them, believing that this would improve their likelihood of acceptance and inclusion by the nursing staff.

Conclusion: further research is required to examine the subtle interplay of factors that influence nursing students’ attitudes and behaviours in relation to their need to belong, how conformity and compliance are acculturated in practice, and how students can be empowered to speak out against poor practice to become assertive and confident practitioners.
belongingness, nursing student, conformity, compliance
0260-6917
342-349
Levett-Jones, Tracy
849c8b75-3575-490c-9daf-a80e792d53fe
Lathlean, Judith
98a74375-c265-47d2-b75b-5f0f3e14c1a9
Levett-Jones, Tracy
849c8b75-3575-490c-9daf-a80e792d53fe
Lathlean, Judith
98a74375-c265-47d2-b75b-5f0f3e14c1a9

Levett-Jones, Tracy and Lathlean, Judith (2009) ‘Don’t rock the boat’: nursing students’ experiences of conformity and compliance. Nurse Education Today, 29 (3), 342-349. (doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2008.10.009).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Aim: this paper profiles a cross national case study that examined nursing students’ experience of belongingness when undertaking clinical placements. The aim of the paper is to present selected findings that focus on the relationship between belongingness, conformity and compliance.

Background: literature from the disciplines of psychology, social science and nursing is presented as a background to the study.

Methods: this was a mixed methods case study; in this paper the qualitative phase is described. Eighteen third year nursing students from two universities in Australia and one in the United Kingdom were interviewed and the data thematically analysed.

Findings: three sub themes emerged within the category of conformity and compliance. These included: Don’t rock the boat; getting the RNs offside; and speaking up. Students described how and why they adopted or adapted to the teams’ and institution’s values and norms, rather than challenging them, believing that this would improve their likelihood of acceptance and inclusion by the nursing staff.

Conclusion: further research is required to examine the subtle interplay of factors that influence nursing students’ attitudes and behaviours in relation to their need to belong, how conformity and compliance are acculturated in practice, and how students can be empowered to speak out against poor practice to become assertive and confident practitioners.

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More information

Published date: April 2009
Keywords: belongingness, nursing student, conformity, compliance

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 154987
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/154987
ISSN: 0260-6917
PURE UUID: c4861110-ced5-47eb-a543-44624eda09a4

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Date deposited: 26 May 2010 15:27
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 01:36

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Contributors

Author: Tracy Levett-Jones
Author: Judith Lathlean

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