The Relationship Between Bullying Behaviors in Educational Environments and the Intention to Dropout of Undergraduate Nursing Students

Various dimensions of bullying occur in academic environments, which experience negative consequences for students in psychological and academic fields. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship between bullying behaviors in educational environments and the intention to dropout among nursing students of Alborz and Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in 2023.

Methods and Materials: 

In this cross-sectional study, 386 undergraduate nursing students were included using convenience sampling method. The link of online questionnaire was sent to the students along with the explanation of the study objectives. The data collection scales in this research included three sections of demographic and educational information, bullying behaviors in nursing education environments and the intention to dropout. Data analysis was done using multiple linear regression.

In this study, most of the students were female (65.2%). The mean of their age and GPA was 22.63±2.2 years and 17.26±1.2, respectively. About 34% of students reported that they experienced bullying behavior from their nursing professors. According to the results, the bullying behavior has a positive and significant relationship with nursing students’ intention to dropout (p<0.001, β=0.55)..

It is worth mentioning that the importance of experiencing bullying behavior for nursing students is twofold because the way nursing students are treated during training shapes the process of becoming a nurse. It is suggested that university managers provide solutions to increase the awareness of nursing professors about the negative consequences of such behaviors and create a culture of respect and professional behavior in universities.