Underreporting Bullying and Harassment Perceived by Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Descriptive Correlation Study

Objective: Reporting bullying and harassment among nursing students is crucial in maintaining a healthy learning environment and improving patient’s quality of care as well since the experiencing bullying and harassment in clinical settings is a worldwide phenomenon. We sought to investigate the extent of the bullying and harassment underreporting pattern perceived by nursing students in clinical settings. Method: A descriptive correlational design was used. A sample of 161 undergraduate nursing students was recruited from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman; the questionnaire consisted of Student Experience of Bullying during Clinical Placement (SEBDCP) and student’s socio-demographic background. Results: 161 undergraduate students participated in this study, the majority of the participants were female (82.6%), single (88.2%), lived in campus (68.9%), and studying in their 5th academic year (29.2%). Overall, 61.4% of our students had experienced bullying at least once during their clinical training, however, 27.8% of bullied students have reported the violent behaviors officially, 70.4% of them reported to college faculty. Almost half these issue was solved to student’s satisfaction, the main reason for not reporting among bullied students was considering it as a part of their job (61.11%). The majority of the students are not aware of policies that address bullying and harassment in their clinical settings both in college (60.2%) and clinical settings (65.2%) respectively. Conclusion: bullying and harassment among nursing students are significantly underreported. Addressing such phenomena nursing practice is crucial to raise the awareness of it and to develop processes for valuable reporting and investigating the problem holistically highlightin