Conflict and interactions on interdisciplinary nursing student teams: The moderating effects of spontaneous communication. (November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Hsing-Yuan; Wang, I-Teng; Hsu, Ding-Yang; Huang, Ding-Hau; Chen, Nai-Hung; Han, Chin-Yen; Han, Hui-Mei
• Is Part Of: Nurse education today. Volume 94(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-11
• Subjects: Team interaction behaviors -- Team conflict -- Moderating effects -- Interdisciplinary education -- Nursing students -- Taiwan; Nursing -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Education, Nursing -- Periodicals; Soins infirmiers -- Étude et enseignement -- Périodiques; Nursing -- Study and teaching; Periodicals; 610.7307
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104562
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0260-6917

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Recently, empirical researchers have observed direct associations between conflict and interaction behaviors within organizational teams. However, research concerning indirect links between conflict and interaction behaviors on interdisciplinary teams in nursing school is scant, particularly in Taiwan. Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the relationships among various types of conflict and interaction behaviors on interdisciplinary nursing education teams. Design, setting, and participants: This study utilized a cross-sectional, quantitative, descriptive design. The authors collected survey data from 99 nursing students who participated in 18-week capstone courses of small interdisciplinary groups collaborating to design healthcare products in Taiwan during 2018 and 2019. Methods: Questionnaires assessed the nursing students' perceptions about their teams' conflicts (of task, process, and relationship), and interaction behaviors (constructive controversy, helping behaviors, and spontaneous communication). The authors used descriptive statistics to compare demographics, conflict scores, and interaction behavior scores for collocated and distributed interdisciplinary teams. A Pearson's analysis identified correlations among the variables and their components, and the SPSS PROCESS macro showed moderating effects of spontaneous communication on the relationship between distributed team and conflict subscales. Results: After confirming the distributed team experienced significantly more conflict than the collocated team, we found significant negative correlations between constructive controversy and both process conflict and relationship conflict on the distributed team. Another interaction behavior, spontaneous communication, had a moderating effect on the relationships between the distributed team and both task conflict and relationship conflict. Conclusion: In interdisciplinary educational settings for nursing students, spontaneous communication may moderate the types of conflict that distributed teams are more likely than collocated teams to experience. Constructive controversy may be especially effective at mitigating conflict on distributed teams. Nursing educators may refer to these insights to improve outcomes for educational interdisciplinary healthcare teams.