‘Don’t rock the boat’: nursing students’ experiences of conformity and compliance

Aim: this paper profiles a cross national case study that examined nursing students’ experience of belongingness when undertaking clinical placements. The aim of the paper is to present selected findings that focus on the relationship between belongingness, conformity and compliance.Background: literature from the disciplines of psychology, social science and nursing is presented as a background to the study.Methods: this was a mixed methods case study; in this paper the qualitative phase is described. Eighteen third year nursing students from two universities in Australia and one in the United Kingdom were interviewed and the data thematically analysed.Findings: three sub themes emerged within the category of conformity and compliance. These included: Don’t rock the boat; getting the RNs offside; and speaking up. Students described how and why they adopted or adapted to the teams’ and institution’s values and norms, rather than challenging them, believing that this would improve their likelihood of acceptance and inclusion by the nursing staff.Conclusion: further research is required to examine the subtle interplay of factors that influence nursing students’ attitudes and behaviours in relation to their need to belong, how conformity and compliance are acculturated in practice, and how students can be empowered to speak out against poor practice to become assertive and confident practitioners