Health of Nurses with Leadership and Management Functions: An Integrative Review

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present findings of an integrative literature review relatedto health and wellbeing of nurses with leadership and management functions and its associated factors, in order to provide the best available evidence on this topic. A large body of knowledge related to nursing health and well-being exists, but little we know about this topic in a nurse leadership and management role. It is a complex role in nursing that implies both clinical and leadership knowledge and abilities. A comprehensive search of electronic databases, focusing on articles published in English and Italian languages during 2009-2018, was completed. A three-step approach was used and from the original 1345 studies, 17 papers were included in this systematic literature review. Two independent reviewers analyzed these papers for critical appraisal on methodological quality and their topics. Narrative synthesis of the empirical literature allowed highlighting the most important results related to the topic investigated. This integrative review has shown that nurse leader and manager roles are stressful mainly for its specific functions and job demands. Directions for future high-quality research are suggested both to deepen the relative importance of the specific risk and protective health factors in nursing leadership roles. repeated, these stressors can negatively affect nurses' physical and mental health and their well-being. In literature, burnout syndrome is widely documented [1].It is a maladaptive psychological and behavioral response to chronic emotional and interpersonal work-related stressors and it comprises emotional exhaustion or loss of emotional resources and energy, depersonalization or insensitivity, negative and cynical attitude, and lack of compassion towards fellow workers and the healthcare users, as well as loss of feeling of personal accomplishment [2]. Other than burnout, many studies observed also the presence of occupational fatigue (acute, chronic, physical and mental states) in nursing that arises due to the excessive job demands requested to such healthcare professionals [3], the psychological and physiological distress [4], depression [5], insufficient/poor-quality sleep [6] [7], and due to poor job satisfaction [8]. The associations between stressful work situations and health and well-being outcomes are varied and complex. In fact, stressful outcomes depend on different personal and job factors. For instance, certain researchers refer to the imbalance among work tasks assigned and work rewards [9], others refer to personal resources, such as emotional intelligence, emotional regulation, empathy, resilience [10] [11] [12] [13]. Beyond these personal variables, social, relational and interpersonal dimensions, such as social support and efficient leadership also seem to be protective factors of nurse health and well-being [14] [15] [16].In the healthcare sector, nurses work in different settings, and occupy different professional roles, and thus the various stressors and job resources can ...