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The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
There is a plethora of nursing literature decrying the prevalence of lateral violence (LV) within the nursing profession ( Clark, Ahten, & Macy, 2013 ; Ebrahimi, Hassankhani, Negarandeh, Jeffery, & Azizi, 2017 ; McKenna & Boyle, 2016 ; Roberts, 2015 ; Taylor, 2016 ; Wilson, 2016 ). LV in nursing is unacceptable, disruptive, and considered inappropriate behavior involving nurses either overtly or covertly aiming their dissatisfaction with work to others who are in an equal or lesser position ( Coursey, Rodriguez, Dieckmann, & Austin, 2013 ). It has been shown that LV education strengthens coping skills for nurses who cope with disruptive behavior ( Griffin, 2004 ). Coursey et al. ( 2013 ) suggested that nursing education include instruction on how to cope with LV as students learn through socialization. Creating a healthy learning environment to promote positive behavioral norms, such as good communication, positive attitudes, and accountability, is the responsibility of nursing education.
One of the authors (K.I.-A.) developed a 4-hour seminar aimed at Associates of Nursing students for an open college in the Northeast United States funded through a public-private partnership. The seminar was titled, "Bullying Awareness" and the objective was to help nursing students gain skills to prevent later participation in LV and to be empowered to respond appropriately to LV.
The seminar was scheduled for 4 hours during a 6-hour laboratory. Three seminars were held, and 8 students attended each seminar ( n = 24 ). A week before the seminar, students were given five articles on the topic of LV...