Horizontal Violence in Nursing Nursing and the Prevalence of Horizontal Violence in the Workplace

The core of the nursing profession is undermined by Horizontal violence. Horizontal violence affects the quality of health care that is delivered in institutions where this repugnant behavior occurs. Many reports suggest that horizontal violence is rampant, particularly in relation to new nurses and recent graduates. It is typically covert and incorporates nonphysical and emotional damage. Examples include sabotage, destructive criticism, back-biting, undermining, scapegoating and verbal confrontation.

The targets usually express feeling ridiculed, demeaned and humiliated. Potential targets range from new hires to long-time or tenured nurses. Similarly, nurses engaged in horizontal violence cross all demographic lines and all areas of specializations. They are usually experienced nurses and are over-burdened by the stress of the job and the long hours associated with their work. At the current time, it is recognized that this problem exists and that considering the current shortage of nurses, it has a significant impact on Hhealth Ccare provision in the United States. This research will help to more clearly define the impact and types of abuse that are occurring in the workplace, within a hospital setting.

Why this research approach is an appropriate choice for your proposal

This research will use a quantitative survey study method to ascertain the types of abuse that occur in a hospital setting among nurses. It will allow the researcher to statistically analyze the frequency and types of abuse that exist within the research setting. Knowing how and when the abuse is occurring is the first step to finding solutions to the problem.

Purpose of the Research Proposal

The purpose of this research proposal is to explore how and when horizontal abuse is occurring among nurses in the hospital setting.

Describe your role and bias as the researcher in your chosen research approach

My role in the research study will be to design and conduct the survey and to analyze the results. My bias as the researcher stems from my belief that the problem exists and my belief in the severity of the problem. This may cause me to create bias and cause me to see the problem as more serious or prevalent than the research shows. I must be aware of my bias in writing the final conclusions of the study.

Describe the sampling techniques you will use

I will use the voluntary random research sampling technique that will solicit survey participants from among various local hospital settings.

Explain why the sampling techniques you will use are appropriate to the methodology you have chosen.

Random voluntary sampling provides a cross section of the population. The researcher has no control over the final study population. Therefore, they do not have the ability to introduce any bias into the simple population that does not occur naturally within the population.

Describe your target audience or participants, including age and number of participants, gender, ethnicity, economic situation (if appropriate), education level, etc.

The sample population will consist of 100 nurses, on all levels of the staff. They will range in age from 22 to 65 and will be from both genders. They will be from varied ethnic and economic backgrounds and will have an educational level appropriate for their position on the staff. They will include nurses with various educational levels, titles, experience levels, and number of years at that particular facility.

State an appropriate hypothesis statement, if relevant to your research approach.

This research will explore the hypothesis that horizontal violence is prevalent in the nursing profession. It will explore a secondary hypothesis that horizontal violence among nurses contributes to the nursing shortage of through creating a hostile work environment.

Task 2

Describe the data collection methods used for your research proposal

Data will be collected using a standard survey instrument that is developed by the researcher. This instrument will be administered by distributing them to the administrative departments of several local hospitals. Permission will be obtained prior to distributing the surveys and the help of the administrative staff will be enlisted prior to beginning the surveys. The administrative staff will ask the nursing staff to participate by picking up a survey, filling it out, and then returning it to the administrative staff when it is completed. The administrative staff will collect the surveys and place them in a Manila envelope to be picked up by the researcher at a later time. The importance of the study will be explained to the administrative staff I and nto the study participants. via a cover letter...

At the present time, no adequate existing instruments could be found that address horizontal violence in the workplace regarding nurses. However, several survey instruments do exist that address other forms of harassment in the workplace. One of the most comprehensive found was titled, "Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace," (Erdreich, Slavet, & Amador, 1994). The survey instrument will be developed using this survey instrument and study as inspiration.
This study was chosen as an example from which to develop current research study largely due to the scope and content that it covers. It is felt that a similar scope and content needs to be developed regarding horizontal harassment among nurses. The study by Erdreich, Slavet, & Amador explores the development of precise definitions, the frequency of harassment, the nature of the harassment and the prevalence of harassment. In the section on the nature of the harassment, the survey scores the types of behaviors being experienced, who the targets of harassment tend to be, and do the harassers are in the workplace. The study further goes on to explore the impact of less serious behaviors, mitigating factors for the behaviors, and the impact of these behaviors on job satisfaction. It is felt that the same topics need to be explored in relation to horizontal harassment among nurses in order to gain a thorough understanding of the topic.

Perhaps the most important portion of the government survey on sexual harassment in the Federal workplace is their exploration of the victims reactions. The survey examined what the victims did in response to the harassment. It also explored the effectiveness of the response, including the results of any formal actions that were taken. It is felt that the same approach would be useful in understanding or as a harassment among nurses. This type of exploration would provide a comprehensive look at the problem and would provide information that can be used in the development of affective strategies for dealing with the problem in the future.

Describe the data you will collect through your instruments or methods

The data collected will be in the form of survey answers in results that can be statistically analyzed and presented in tabular or graphic formats for clarity. The survey that will be developed for this study uses quantitative methods that can be represented as single data points and analyzed using statistical analyses.

Describe your research procedure

Data will be collected by distributing the survey to administrators of local hospitals. The administrators will then solicit nursing volunteers to fill out the survey and return it to them. The researcher will pick up the completed surveys at an arranged date and will begin statistical analysis. Statistical analysis will include descriptive, correlational, and frequency distribution analytical methods. Various categories will be cross tabulated to determine if a relationship might exist that needs to be explored further by future research. The results will be presented in the final dissertation.

Task 3

The chosen research methodology for this study entails the conduct of a quantitative survey that will be administered to nurses at local hospitals. The study will entail a survey that is inspired my previous work on sexual harassment in the workplace. It is felt that horizontal harassment and sexual harassment in the workplace are similar, but that some significant differences exist and that due to these differences when cannot draw inferences about horizontal harassment based on what is already known about sexual harassment. They are two different study topics, but their nature makes it possible to study them using similar means.

Data will be collected by distributing a survey to nurses at local area hospitals. The survey will examine the prevalence, instances, and reactions of the victims to horizontal harassment that they have experienced. The surveys will be collected andin analyzed statistically using eExcel and other available software programs as appropriate. Different sections of the survey represent the data in different ways and will require analyses that are appropriate to that type of data. It is expected that similar methods to that used in the study by Erdreich, Slavet, & Amador, (1994) will also be appropriate for this study as well.

The survey methods used in this study are not unusual or out of the ordinary. These methods have been used in numerous studies and are considered standard in the research setting. There is no reason to suggest that the parameters or subject of the study will be different and will require any difference study methods…