Reader's theater: a teaching strategy to help students respond to disruptive behavior.

The seriousness of disruptive behavior among nurses has been documented by professional nursing organizations, nurse researchers, hospital administrators, and the Joint Commission. Disruptive behavior is any inappropriate behavior, confrontation, or conflict ranging from verbal abuse to physical and sexual harassment. Although the profession recommends development of nursing curricula to address disruptive behavior, the literature on this topic is scarce. Using reader's theater, an innovative teaching strategy, the 10 most common forms of disruptive behavior were introduced. The scripts were used in a senior-level baccalaureate nursing transition course to increase students' awareness of and ability to handle disruptive behaviors. Reader's theater is a scripted, formalized storytelling experience that provides an opportunity for self-reflection and group discussions. After the reader's theater learning activity, students reported an increased ability to recognize and handle disruptive behavior in the workplace.