The effects of intervention based on supportive leadership behaviour on Iranian nursing leadership performance: a randomized controlled trial.

AIMS: To assess the effects of a workshop on supportive leadership behaviour (SLB) on the performance of head nurses, using a randomized controlled trial design. BACKGROUND: The effect of transformational leadership on SLB in nursing management is emphasised. METHODS: A total of 110 head nurses working at university hospitals were included randomly in two control and intervention groups. The head nurses in the intervention group participated in supportive leadership training, but the control group did not. Performance in supportive leadership was assessed with a validated instrument, which six subordinates used to assess their head nurse (n = 731). RESULTS: There was a significant difference in SLB scores from baseline to the 3 month follow-up (P < 0.0001). Moreover, the post-intervention scores were significantly higher in the intervention group, compared with the control group (P < 0.0001). The results showed that in the intervention group, the effect sizes were greater for males (50%) than for females (36%) and greater for married participants (42%) than for single participants (37%). CONCLUSION: The workshop on supportive leadership behaviour, particularly the interactive multifaceted training, improved the leadership performance of the head nurses who participated in this study. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGERS: Health policy decision makers should apply SLB, which is a significant leadership style, to improve the outcomes in other groups of health-care management, such as physicians. Future studies are needed to investigate the effects of such workshops in longer periods of follow up.

Contextualization and standardization of the supportive leadership behavior questionnaire based on socio- cognitive theory in Iran.

BACKGROUND: Effective leadership is of prime importance in any organization and it goes through changes based on accepted health promotion and behavior change theory. Although there are many leadership styles, transformational leadership, which emphasizes supportive leadership behaviors, seems to be an appropriate style in many settings particularly in the health care and educational sectors which are pressured by high turnover and safety demands. Iran has been moving rapidly forward and its authorities have understood and recognized the importance of matching leadership styles with effective and competent care for success in health care organizations. This study aimed to develop the Supportive Leadership Behaviors Scale based on accepted health and educational theories and to psychometrically test it in the Iranian context. METHODS: The instrument was based on items from established questionnaires. A pilot study validated the instrument which was also cross-validated via re-translation. After validation, 731 participants answered the questionnaire. RESULTS: The instrument was finalized and resulted in a 20-item questionnaire using the exploratory factor analysis, which yielded four factors of support for development, integrity, sincerity and recognition and explaining the supportive leadership behaviors (all above 0.6). Mapping these four measures of leadership behaviors can be beneficial to determine whether effective leadership could support innovation and improvements in medical education and health care organizations on the national level. The reliability measured as Cronbach's alpha was 0.84. CONCLUSION: This new instrument yielded four factors of support for development, integrity, sincerity and recognition and explaining the supportive leadership behaviors which are applicable in health and educational settings and are helpful in improving self -efficacy among health and academic staff.