Conflict resolution styles and skills and variation among medical students.

BACKGROUND: Conflict is inevitable on healthcare teams, yet few professional school curricula teach or assess conflict resolution skills. Little is known about the variation in conflict resolution styles across medical students and how these styles might impact conflict resolution skills. METHODS: This is a prospective, single blinded, group randomized quasi experimental trial to assess the impact of knowing one's own conflict resolution style on conflict resolution skills in a simulated encounter. Graduating medical students completed a mandatory conflict resolution session with standardized patients acting as nurses during a transition to residency course. Coaches reviewed videotapes of the simulation, focusing on students' skills with negotiation and emotional intelligence. Retrospectively, we assessed the impact of the students knowing their conflict resolution style prior to simulation, student gender, race, and intended field of practice on conflict resolution skills as judged by coaches. RESULTS: One hundred and eight students completed the simulated conflict session. Sixty-seven students completed the TKI before the simulated patient (SP) encounter and 41 after. The most common conflict resolution style was accommodating (n = 40). Knowing one's conflict resolution style in advance of the simulation and one's identified race/ethnicity did not impact skill as assessed by faculty coaches. Students pursuing diagnosis-based specialties had higher negotiation (p = 0.04) and emotional quotient (p = 0.006) scores than those pursuing procedural specialties. Females had higher emotional quotient scores (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Conflict resolution styles vary among medical students. Male gender and future practice in a procedural specialty impacted conflict resolution skills but knowing conflict resolution style did not.

The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Conflict Resolution Styles Among Nurse Managers: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: Mindfulness might help nurse managers in dealing with conflicts. However, the relationship between mindfulness and conflict resolution styles were still not clearly understood. Objective: To identify the relationship between mindfulness and conflict resolution and to predict the conflict resolution styles of nurse managers through mindfulness. Methods: A descriptive correlational cross-sectional design was employed. A convenience sample of 197 nurse managers was recruited from five public and two university hospitals. Data about nurse managers' mindfulness and conflict management styles were collected through self-reported scales. The data was collected between January and March 2020. Results: Mindfulness was significantly associated with integrating (r = 0.31, p < .001) and obliging (r = 0.14, p = .045) conflict resolution styles. Mindfulness was able to uniquely predict using the integrating conflict resolution style (χ² = 4.65, p = .031). Conclusions: Mindfulness is uniquely related to integrating conflict resolution among nurse managers. The findings encourage stakeholders in health care organizations to develop training programs to improve managers' conflict resolution skills and to invest in managers' mindfulness.

Relations Between Depression Level and Conflict Resolution Styles, Marital Adjustments of Patients With Major Depression and Their Spouses.

The objective of this study was to determine to relations between the depression level and the conflict resolution styles, marital adjustments of the depressed patients and to analyze the conflict resolution styles, marital adjustments of both the patients and their spouses as the possible predictors of depression levels. The research comprised 113 patients with major depression and their spouses. While there was a negative correlation between depression scores and positive and subordination conflict resolution styles subscales of the patients, there was a positive correlation between the depression scores and negative conflict resolution style subscale. Negative correlation was observed between the depression and marital adjustment scores of patients (p<0.05). The conflict resolution styles and marital adjustment of depressed patients and their spouses are predictors of depression in patients.