School of Podiatric Medicine Publications

Perceived Negative Acts and Emotional Well-Being in Healthcare Education at a Hispanic-Serving Institution: A Cross-Sectional Study

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-2026

Abstract

Purpose: Negative acts (NA), including work-related bullying, person-related bullying, and physical intimidation, are inappropriate behaviors that should not occur in workplaces or schools. Healthcare students may be exposed to these experiences during their training, although exposure may vary across demographics. This study aimed to assess self-reported NA and the emotional well-being among healthcare students from different family immigration backgrounds at a Hispanic-serving institution on the U.S.–Mexico border and to explore potential associations between NA exposure and demographic characteristics. Methods: The NA Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R) assessed work-related bullying (WB), person-related bullying (PB), physical intimidation (PI), and total NAQ-R score (TNAQ-R). Participants also completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to evaluate emotional engagement. Groups were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis Test, while the Fisher Exact Test analyzed the association between demographic data and NA scores. Spearman Correlation assessed the relationship between NAQ-R and PANAS. All analyses considered α=5%. Results: 72 students (mean age 26.26±8.34 years) participated: 63.9% Hispanic, 18.1% White, 9.7% Asian, and 8.3% Black. The average TNAQ-R score was 29.25±9.95, indicating low bullying risk. Additionally, the average scores for PI, PB, and WB were 3.56±1.02, 15.42±5.1, and 10.28±4.6, respectively. According to the Mikkelsen and Einarsen criteria, 15.3% (n=11) of participants were at risk of exposure to NA. There were no significant differences or associations between NAQ-R scores and demographic information. TNAQ-R scores were positively correlated with PANAS− scores (Spearman's ρ = 0.251, p = 0.033). Conclusions: Healthcare students at this Hispanic-serving institution reported similarly low NA levels across diverse family immigration backgrounds. No significant demographic differences were observed, and greater exposure to NA was associated with higher negative affect. These findings provide insight into the relationship between NA and emotional well-being in diverse healthcare education environments.

Comments

© 2026 Seixas, Garcia, Heybeck, Gonçales and Biguetti. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Publication Title

Frontiers in Education

Academic Level

faculty

DOI

10.3389/feduc.2026.1877696

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