Assessment and Evaluation of Leadership Role of a Staff Nurse Who Effects Patient-Centered Care

Abstract

The focus of this study is the development of a "Self-Assessment Inventory of Leadership role for staff nurses" (SAIL), and appreciation of a staff nurse's leadership practice by the statistical examination. Leadership role means a process whereby a person who is a nurse as advocator effects the actions of others (patient/ family, team members) at the direct care to provide patient-centered care.

Sixty-two questions were presented to 275 nurses, with responses given on a 5-point Likert scale. Of the 275 respondents, 82.9 % yielded valid responses. After an item analysis of responses, 51 items were selected, for further analysis using the maximum-likelihood method (with promax rotations). The result yielded five factors for 20 items. The first factor (=F) was labeled as "The sharing of a common goal with patients"; the second F as "Self-realization of the importance of relationship building with the patient"; the third F as "Providing flexible care services"; the fourth F as "Interdisciplinary collaboration"; and the fifth F as "Sense of professionalism and willingness to provide the best possible care." The accumulated contribution rate was 52.16%.

The reliability of the SAIL was confirmed from the split-half and subscales of 0.73- 0.83, as the Cronbach alpha coefficient showed 0.90 and the Spearman-Brown coefficient was 0.83. The construct validity was confirmed, as the relation between the five factors nearly matched the suppositional leadership categories. The criterion-related validity was also confirmed as the correlation coefficient between the SAIL and Johnson's Inventory of leadership practices showed a strong relation (r=0.81(p<0.01)). The content validity was confirmed by clinical nurse and nursing teacher views of the SAIL. The discriminate validity was confirmed as well, as the nursing performance abilities of nurses in the SAIL was distinctive.

The score of the SAIL indicates that leadership role of the nurse is not sufficient for the patient/ family and improvement is required in a clinical situation. It seems, therefore, that future investigation should focus on training and strategy for leadership role of the nurse.