The effect of a theory course in nursing administration and a subsequent field experience on the profile of leadership style of students in a Master's program in nursing administration

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects that a nursing administration theory course and a subsequent field experience of 150 hours had on the profile of leadership style of students enrolled in a master's program in nursing administration. The experimental subjects (N = 18) and control subjects (N = 15) were all female professional nurses enrolled in a master's program in nursing administration in a northeast metropolitan city. A non-equivalent group design was used for the study. The experimental group was exposed to two treatments: theory course and a subsequent field experience. The control group was exposed to neither. A repeated measures analysis of variance demonstrated no significant differences between pretest and post-test 1 scores for either the experimental or control groups. Also, no significant differences in the linear description of performance on the GPP-I from post-test 1 to post-test 2 could be identified for either group. The study was unable to demonstrate linear changes in the profile of a student's leadership style after completion of a theory course or field experience in nursing administration.