Become A Member

Background: Assertiveness in nursing is an essential communication tool that aims to reduce stress, promote better coping skills, and improve professional practice. Assertive skills are a necessity for the 21st-century nurse; thus, every professional nurse needs to be empowered and knowledgeable about all that is contained in the concept “assertiveness”. Objective: The aim of this article is to explore the concept of assertiveness in nursing, examine available evidence about nurses’ assertiveness, identify the factors influencing the nurse’s assertiveness, discuss evidence-based strategies used to improve assertive skills of the professional nurse, and the implication for nursing education. Methods: Literatures from PubMed and google scholar using related themes on assertiveness were reviewed and discussed. Themes that emerged showed that most nurses demonstrate moderate to low level assertive behavior, and this is unacceptable. Results: Factors influencing nurse’s assertive behavior include education and age. Some factors affecting nurse’s assertive behavior in Nigeria were discussed. Conclusion: Planning and implementation of assertive skill training and workshop has been found to be an effective evidence-based strategy used in developing assertive skills among nurses. It was recommended that the Nursing and Midwifery Council, nurse educators and nursing faculties should review the current curriculum and integrate assertive skill contents into the nursing curriculum and that nursing conferences and workshops should focus on assertive skill development among nurses. Key words: Assertiveness in nursing, nurse educators, curriculum, assertive skill training.