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Abstract

Purpose. Academic incivility negatively impacts the learning process; however, the potential impact of uncivil behaviors on students’ attitudes and interactions in the applied medical sciences has not been comprehensively explored. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the academic incivility as reported by undergraduate students from nine allied health academic programs in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods. A cross-sectional descriptive study design consisting of two parts was used. The pre-test part intended to provide content validation for the major questionnaire study. The full-scale study addressed the aim. An electronic questionnaire was prepared and disseminated. The questionnaire contained 11 questions distributed into five sections: students’ demographic information, frequency of exposure to incivility, perception of predefined uncivil behaviors when performed by faculty members and classmates, effect of uncivil behaviors on specified everyday aspects, and typical reaction when facing an uncivil behavior. Independent t-test was used to compare the differences in mean scores of uncivil behaviors by gender. Results. A total of 42 and 254 students completed the questionnaires for both parts, respectively. Most of the participants were male aged between 21-23 years. Uncivil behaviors conducted by faculty (e.g., threatening to fail students) or conducted by classmates (e.g., taking credit for classmate’s work) were considered very serious. These uncivil behaviors were found to be seriously affecting students’ mental and physical wellbeing, their academic performance, and their attendance and punctuality. No statistically significant mean scores of uncivil behaviors by gender were found. It was surprising that most of the participants in our study ignored the incident. Discussion. A blame-free environment should be established where students are able to report uncivil behaviors without fear of rebuke or punishment. Future research should explore effective approaches to reduce incivility to inform the development of further faculty and students training strategies and provide opportunities to address academic incivility due to its potential impact on learning and harm to emotional wellbeing.

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