Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Student Experiences of Incivility, Bullying, and Intimidation in the Clinical Practicum Setting: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe and interpret the experiences of graduate students in communication sciences and disorders who experienced forms of incivility in the clinical practicum setting. There is precedent for identifying and handling incivility, such as bullying, harassment, and intimidation, in the nursing education, psychology education, medical education, and physical therapy literature. A literature search for incivilities such as bullying, harassment, and intimidation in graduate student education in communication sciences and disorders did not yield any systematic studies. Method: Nineteen participants who were interested in participating contacted the researcher; of those, nine participants were ultimately interviewed. A thematic analysis of videotaped semistructured interviews was used to measure outcomes based on the five questions posed to the participants. The participants responded to the five questions designed to understand the lived experience of incivility for graduate students in speech-language pathology practicum settings. Conclusions: This study fills a gap in the clinical education literature in speech-language pathology. It was a qualitative study using a phenomenological approach that described and interpreted speech-language pathology graduate students' experiences of bullying, harassment, and/or intimidation during clinical practicums across practice settings. Data analysis yielded five themes based on the participants' responses during the interview. The themes were communication, physical and/or psychological effects, interpersonal dynamics, clinical instruction, and lingering physical and psychological effects of the experience. The authors make recommendations to reduce the probability that incivility, bullying, and/or intimidation will occur during a student's clinical practicum experience.