AN EXAMINATION OF NURSING FACULTY MEMBERS' PERCEPTION OF SEXISM IN FACULTY-STUDENT INTERACTIONS (CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT).
Contributors: Widener University School Of Nursing.
Published: 1995
Number of pages: 214
Subjects: Health Sciences, Education.; Education, Higher.; Women's Studies.; Education, Sociology of.; Psychology, Social.; Psychology, Industrial.
Description: Sexism occurs in all levels of education; however, some faculty may be unaware of its presence and effect upon students. The purposes of this descriptive study were to explore faculty members' perception of sexism in faculty-student interactions through the use of vignettes, to compare male and female faculty members' perception of sexism in clinical and classroom vignettes which represent female, male, and gender neutral students, and to compare the effect of selected personal and professional factors on faculty members' perception of sexism in faculty-student interactions.

King's (1981) systems theory provided the framework for this study. The concepts of perception, self, roles, interactions, power, authority, and decision making in the personal, interpersonal and social systems are reflected in this study.

Clinical and classroom vignettes, based on female, male, and gender neutral situations, were developed to reflect sexism in nursing education. Content validity of the vignettes was established using a panel of experts; internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha was confirmed by both the pilot test and full study data (alpha ranging from.85 to.93).

The national sample included 278 female nurse educators randomly selected from membership lists of the National League for Nursing Council for Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs, and 40 male nurse educators contacted through snowball sampling technique. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and multiple regression; qualitative responses were analyzed for themes.

Quantitative findings indicate that faculty members perceive significantly more sexism in vignettes depicting female students (t = 21.33, df = 284, p $<$.001) and male students (t = 17.78, df = 285, p $<$.001) than in vignettes without student sex identified. Faculty also perceived more sexism in female vignettes than in male vignettes (t = 11.300, df = 285, p $<$.001). There were no statistically significant differences between faculty members' perception of sexism in classroom and clinical vignettes. Except for personal experience with sexism, none of the selected personal and professional characteristics were related to faculty members' perception of sexism.

Qualitative findings revealed the themes of preferential treatment, discrimination, silenced voices and exclusion, and harassment. Findings revealed faculty had personal experiences with sexism. These findings have implications for nurse educators; however, further studies are needed.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-07, Section: B, page: 3677.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--WIDENER UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NURSING, 1995.

School code: 0969.