Background: Positive teamwork attitudes are crucial components of effective interprofessional collaboration, which is crucial to promoting patient safety and quality healthcare, with these attitudes being developed and influenced during the formative years of professional education. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the determinants of positive teamwork attitudes, specifically examining the influence of age, gender, and academic progression among Nigerian nursing students. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to examine 218 clinical nursing students from level two to five at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Each participant was selected using a stratified random sampling to ensure impartial. Data was collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire that was adapted from Huyen's (2010) questionnaire. Each instrument had a section focusing on socio-demographic characteristics of each student and an attitude scale to measure their perceptions of teamwork learning skills. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to check whether or not any associations between the determinants and attitude scores were significant with SPSS version 27.0. <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The collective disposition towards teamwork was highly positive (Mean score = 34.15 ± 4.40 on a range of 8 to 40). A one-dimensional analysis of covariance (after evaluating covariant homogeneity using Levene's test) showed that age (F=2.816, p=0.026), gender (F=7.791, p=0.006), and level of study (F=2.887, p=0.037) were all statistically significant determinants of attitudes towards teamwork. Female students reported significantly more positive attitudes (M=34.72 ± 2.83) than their male counterparts (M=32.97 ± 6.42). Age generally had a positive linear relationship with attitudes toward teamwork, with the most positive attitudes reported among students older than 23 years (M=36.64 ± 1.81). There was no discernable linear relation with level of study, but attitudes peaked among 3rd year students (M=34.91 ± 2.91), and then dropped among 4th year students (M=32.16 ± 4.18). Conclusion: Age, gender, and academic transition appear to be important factors that influence the teamwork beliefs of Nigerian nursing students. The results highlight the variability of teamwork attitudes among groups of students and within the same cohort of students as they progress through the program. Nursing education programs should adopt specific and considered longitudinal approaches to building and maintaining positive collaborative attitudes in consideration of these factors to prepare students for contemporary healthcare practice.
| Published in | Journal of Surgery (Volume 14, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.js.20261401.13 |
| Page(s) | 9-15 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2026. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Teamwork Attitude, Nursing Students, Age, Gender, Academic Progression, Interprofessional Education, Nigeria
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APA Style
Wagozie, V., Ezebuiro, E. I., Ambassador, N. (2026). The Determinants of Positive Teamwork Attitudes: An Analysis of Age, Gender, and Academic Progression Among Nigerian Nursing Students. Journal of Surgery, 14(1), 9-15. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20261401.13
ACS Style
Wagozie, V.; Ezebuiro, E. I.; Ambassador, N. The Determinants of Positive Teamwork Attitudes: An Analysis of Age, Gender, and Academic Progression Among Nigerian Nursing Students. J. Surg. 2026, 14(1), 9-15. doi: 10.11648/j.js.20261401.13
AMA Style
Wagozie V, Ezebuiro EI, Ambassador N. The Determinants of Positive Teamwork Attitudes: An Analysis of Age, Gender, and Academic Progression Among Nigerian Nursing Students. J Surg. 2026;14(1):9-15. doi: 10.11648/j.js.20261401.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.js.20261401.13,
author = {Victor Wagozie and Emmanuella Ijeoma Ezebuiro and Nukpegabari Ambassador},
title = {The Determinants of Positive Teamwork Attitudes:
An Analysis of Age, Gender, and Academic Progression Among Nigerian Nursing Students},
journal = {Journal of Surgery},
volume = {14},
number = {1},
pages = {9-15},
doi = {10.11648/j.js.20261401.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20261401.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.js.20261401.13},
abstract = {Background: Positive teamwork attitudes are crucial components of effective interprofessional collaboration, which is crucial to promoting patient safety and quality healthcare, with these attitudes being developed and influenced during the formative years of professional education. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the determinants of positive teamwork attitudes, specifically examining the influence of age, gender, and academic progression among Nigerian nursing students. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to examine 218 clinical nursing students from level two to five at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Each participant was selected using a stratified random sampling to ensure impartial. Data was collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire that was adapted from Huyen's (2010) questionnaire. Each instrument had a section focusing on socio-demographic characteristics of each student and an attitude scale to measure their perceptions of teamwork learning skills. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to check whether or not any associations between the determinants and attitude scores were significant with SPSS version 27.0. Results: The collective disposition towards teamwork was highly positive (Mean score = 34.15 ± 4.40 on a range of 8 to 40). A one-dimensional analysis of covariance (after evaluating covariant homogeneity using Levene's test) showed that age (F=2.816, p=0.026), gender (F=7.791, p=0.006), and level of study (F=2.887, p=0.037) were all statistically significant determinants of attitudes towards teamwork. Female students reported significantly more positive attitudes (M=34.72 ± 2.83) than their male counterparts (M=32.97 ± 6.42). Age generally had a positive linear relationship with attitudes toward teamwork, with the most positive attitudes reported among students older than 23 years (M=36.64 ± 1.81). There was no discernable linear relation with level of study, but attitudes peaked among 3rd year students (M=34.91 ± 2.91), and then dropped among 4th year students (M=32.16 ± 4.18). Conclusion: Age, gender, and academic transition appear to be important factors that influence the teamwork beliefs of Nigerian nursing students. The results highlight the variability of teamwork attitudes among groups of students and within the same cohort of students as they progress through the program. Nursing education programs should adopt specific and considered longitudinal approaches to building and maintaining positive collaborative attitudes in consideration of these factors to prepare students for contemporary healthcare practice.},
year = {2026}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Determinants of Positive Teamwork Attitudes: An Analysis of Age, Gender, and Academic Progression Among Nigerian Nursing Students AU - Victor Wagozie AU - Emmanuella Ijeoma Ezebuiro AU - Nukpegabari Ambassador Y1 - 2026/02/09 PY - 2026 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20261401.13 DO - 10.11648/j.js.20261401.13 T2 - Journal of Surgery JF - Journal of Surgery JO - Journal of Surgery SP - 9 EP - 15 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-0930 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20261401.13 AB - Background: Positive teamwork attitudes are crucial components of effective interprofessional collaboration, which is crucial to promoting patient safety and quality healthcare, with these attitudes being developed and influenced during the formative years of professional education. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the determinants of positive teamwork attitudes, specifically examining the influence of age, gender, and academic progression among Nigerian nursing students. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to examine 218 clinical nursing students from level two to five at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Each participant was selected using a stratified random sampling to ensure impartial. Data was collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire that was adapted from Huyen's (2010) questionnaire. Each instrument had a section focusing on socio-demographic characteristics of each student and an attitude scale to measure their perceptions of teamwork learning skills. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to check whether or not any associations between the determinants and attitude scores were significant with SPSS version 27.0. Results: The collective disposition towards teamwork was highly positive (Mean score = 34.15 ± 4.40 on a range of 8 to 40). A one-dimensional analysis of covariance (after evaluating covariant homogeneity using Levene's test) showed that age (F=2.816, p=0.026), gender (F=7.791, p=0.006), and level of study (F=2.887, p=0.037) were all statistically significant determinants of attitudes towards teamwork. Female students reported significantly more positive attitudes (M=34.72 ± 2.83) than their male counterparts (M=32.97 ± 6.42). Age generally had a positive linear relationship with attitudes toward teamwork, with the most positive attitudes reported among students older than 23 years (M=36.64 ± 1.81). There was no discernable linear relation with level of study, but attitudes peaked among 3rd year students (M=34.91 ± 2.91), and then dropped among 4th year students (M=32.16 ± 4.18). Conclusion: Age, gender, and academic transition appear to be important factors that influence the teamwork beliefs of Nigerian nursing students. The results highlight the variability of teamwork attitudes among groups of students and within the same cohort of students as they progress through the program. Nursing education programs should adopt specific and considered longitudinal approaches to building and maintaining positive collaborative attitudes in consideration of these factors to prepare students for contemporary healthcare practice. VL - 14 IS - 1 ER -
Rivers State University and Rivers State Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Department of Surgery, Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
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