Journal of Health Services Research & Policy > Volume 13, Number 4 > Pp. 240-248

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Appendices Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cummings, G. Articles by Stafford, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

Review

Factors contributing to nursing leadership: a systematic review

Greta Cummings , How Lee, Tara MacGregor, Mandy Davey ¹, Carol Wong ², Linda Paul, Erin Stafford

Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Alberta; ¹ Bonnyville Health Centre; ² School of Nursing, University of Western Ontario, Canada

Correspondence to: gretac{at}ualberta.ca

Objectives: Leadership practices of health care managers can positively or negatively influence outcomes for organizations, providers and, ultimately, patients. Understanding the factors that contribute to nursing leadership is fundamental to ensuring a future supply of nursing leaders who can positively influence outcomes for health care providers and patients. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the multidisciplinary literature to examine the factors that contribute to nursing leadership and the effectiveness of educational interventions in developing leadership behaviours among nurses.

Methods: The search strategy began with 10 electronic databases (e.g. CINAHL, Medline). Published quantitative studies were included that examined the factors that contribute to leadership or the development of leadership behaviours in nurse leaders. Quality assessments, data extraction and analysis were completed on all included studies.

Results: A total of 27,717 titles/abstracts were screened resulting in 26 included manuscripts reporting on 24 studies. Twenty leadership factors were examined and categorized into four groups – behaviours and practices of individual leaders, traits and characteristics of individual leaders, influences of context and practice settings, and leader participation in educational activities. Specific behaviours and practices of individual leaders, such as taking on or practising leadership styles, skills and roles, were reported as significantly influencing leadership in eight studies. Traits and characteristics of individual leaders were examined in six studies with previous leadership experience (three studies) and education levels (two of three studies) having positive effects on observed leadership. Context and practice settings had a moderate influence on leadership effectiveness (three of five studies). Nine studies that examined participation in leadership development programs all reported significant positive influences on observed leadership.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that leadership can be developed through specific educational activities, and by modelling and practising leadership competencies. However, the relatively weak study designs provide limited evidence for specific factors that could increase the effectiveness of current nursing leadership or guide the identification of future nurse leaders. Robust theory and research on interventions to develop and promote viable nursing leadership for the future are needed to achieve the goal of developing healthy work environments for health care providers and optimizing care for patients.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?