Developing Bullying Prevention Guidelines for Nurse Interns and its Effects on Their Assertiveness

Abstract

<title>Abstract</title> Background Bullying is a serious problem which had short and long term negative consequences on nurse interns behaviors. Bullying prevention guidelines have a great impact on reducing exposure to the bullying incidence among nurse interns. Aim The present study aimed to assess evaluate the effect of developing bullying prevention guidelines on nurse interns assertiveness level. Methods A methodological study design was used to conduct the study at Ain Shams University Hospitals in Cairo Governorate, Egypt. The study subjects were consisted of a purposive sample of 121 nurse interns. Data were collected using four tools; Bullying Knowledge Questionnaire, Negative act questionnaire [NAQ], Individual Bullying Behaviors In Clinical Practice Survey, and Assertiveness Inventory. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 24, Qualitative categorical variables were compared using the chi-square test. A significant level value was considered when the p-value ≤ 0.01, and multivariate analysis, demonstrates statistically significant predictor of the score. Results Scores of bullying and assertiveness after implementation of the prevention guidelines were significantly improved among nurse interns 91.4%, 86.3% incidence of exposure to bullying compared with pre-test scores with 34.7, 11.8 [P &lt; 0.001]. Conclusion The bullying prevention guidelines was significantly reduce nurse interns bullying and improve their assertiveness. The study recommended dissemination and generalization of the developed bullying prevention guidelines at the different training settings. Trial Registration Number [TRN] The study protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University (code number: NUR 23.9.128).