Revisiting Cognitive Rehearsal as an Intervention Against Incivility and Lateral Violence in Nursing: 10 Years Later

Ten years ago, Griffin wrote an article on the use of cognitive rehearsal as a shield for lateral violence. Since then, cognitive rehearsal has been used successfully in several studies as an evidence-based strategy to address uncivil and bullying behaviors in nursing. In the original study, 26 newly licensed nurses learned about lateral violence and used cognitive rehearsal techniques as an intervention for nurse-to-nurse incivility. The newly licensed nurses described using the rehearsed strategies as difficult, yet successful in reducing or eliminating incivility and lateral violence. This article updates the literature on cognitive rehearsal and reviews the use of cognitive rehearsal as an evidence-based strategy to address incivility and bullvina behaviors in nursing.