Perception and Factors Influencing Academic Incivility among Nursing Students: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study from a Selected Nursing College in Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Background: Academic incivility disrespectful or disruptive conduct within the educational environment—is an increasingly recognised threat to the learning climate, professional formation, and psychological well-being of nursing students, yet remains under-studied in Indian nursing colleges. This study assessed nursing students' perception of academic incivility and identified the factors influencing it.
Methodology: A quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional design was used among 40 undergraduate nursing students at a selected nursing college in Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh, selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a structured, expert-validated questionnaire (reliability r = 0.75, split-half method) comprising socio-demographic items, a 19-item dichotomous perception-of-incivility scale, and a multiple-choice factors-influencing-incivility section. Descriptive statistics summarised demographic and perception data; the chi-square test (Fisher's exact test where indicated) examined associations at α = 0.05.
Results: Severe incivility was reported by 16 students (40.0%), moderate incivility by 13 (32.5%), and mild incivility by 11 (27.5%). No socio-demographic variable was significantly associated with incivility level (age, χ² = 2.614, p = 0.856; gender, χ² = 0.211, p = 0.900; educational level, χ² = 1.972, p = 0.922; socio-economic status, χ² = 0.524, p = 0.997; residential area, χ² = 0.350, p = 0.986). Among influencing factors, contributing factors (χ² = 18.513, p = 0.018), mobile phone use during class (χ² = 11.272, p = 0.024), and satisfaction with teaching methods (χ² = 20.809, p = 0.002) showed statistically significant associations. Exposure to incivility from faculty or peers was the most prominent contributing factor among severely affected students (87.5%).
Conclusion: Academic incivility is prevalent among nursing students and distributed uniformly across demographic subgroups, indicating an institutional rather than individual-level phenomenon. Modelled faculty and peer conduct, unregulated classroom mobile phone use, and instructional boundary-setting emerged as the principal correlates of incivility severity, underscoring the need for faculty development, clear behavioural expectations, and institutional civility policy in nursing education.