Nurses’ Assertive Communication: A Review and Future Directions

Abstract

Nurses interact with patients, colleagues and other health care professionals on a daily basis and this interaction is improved when nurses have good communication skills. Becoming more assertive can lead to increased respect and recognition as a person and as a nurse. This paper aims to gain more insights on nurses’ assertive communication at the workplace by reviewing current research on assertiveness and nursing. There is an abundance of studies to support the use of assertiveness skills in clinical settings. Although forms of assertive behaviour have been investigated in many situations, there is still insufficient empirical evidence with regard to the frequency and the use of assertiveness skills by nurses in clinical settings. Moreover, there is also a lack of research describing potential barriers to this, and it has been suggested that the factors in nurses’ work settings that promote or inhibit assertive behaviour need to be explored and identified. This paper will conclude with a discussion of a proposed study which will examine the level of assertiveness among nurses in Malaysia, the influence of workplace factors, the factors supporting the use of assertive behaviour and the factors that hinders the use of assertive behaviour.