Nurse Managers' Perceived Self-leadership Levels

Abstract

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the perceived levels of self-leadership among nurse managers in the United States. BACKGROUND Self-leadership is the ability to influence and engage oneself to be self-aware and responsible, and leverage strengths to perform. Despite benefits identified from extant literature, there are no studies on self-leadership among nurse managers in the United States. METHODS A cross-sectional descriptive design was used. Eighty-eight nurse managers completed a survey using the Revised Self-Leadership Questionnaire. RESULTS Nurse managers identified moderate levels of self-leadership; the strategies with the lowest scores were constructive thought strategies, self-reward behaviors, and visualizing performance. There was a relationship between age and the identified self-leadership levels. CONCLUSIONS Further studies are needed to understand self-leadership among nurse leaders in the United States and beyond. There is an opportunity to increase nurse managers' self-leadership level by focusing on interventions to increase constructive thought pattern strategies, self-reward behaviors, and visualizing successful performance.