An Exploratory Survey of Incivility Experienced by Novice Occupational Therapists Educated Using a Servant Leadership Model

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the incidence of incivility experienced by a purposive sample of novice occupational therapists who graduated from a master’s level program that focused on developing servant leaders as part of its mission. Data from this group was then compared to outcomes from a previous national survey of novice occupational therapists. Incivility in both studies was measured using the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R). An independent samples t-test showed that NAQ-R total scores and person-related incivility subscores were significantly (p<.05) lower for the novice occupational therapists with servant leadership training than the nationwide cohort. While the comparison between groups was exploratory in nature, it demonstrates the need for additional studies to examine relationships between civility and use of positive leadership models in academia, fieldwork settings, and in the workplace as a method for promoting civility.