Study On The Relationship Between Nurses' Psychological Capital And Transformational Leadership Of Head Nurses

Objectives To investigate the present situation of head nurses ' transformational leadership and nurses' psychological capital,to analyze relationships among them and to search affecting factors of nurses' psychological capital,to explore the impact of head nurses' transformational leadership on nurses' psychological capital in manging aspects.So,references were provided for enhancing nurses' psychological capital and promoting nurses' work state.Methods By a cross-sectional study design,a questionnaire survey wa s conducted among clinical nurses.Using convenient sampling method,216 nurses were selected who came from internal medicine,surgery,eme rgency,ICU,pediatrics,obstetrics and Gynecology of 2 first-class te rtiary hospitals in Jinan.These questionnaires included general info rmation questionnaire,Transformational Leadership Questionnaire(TLQ),Psychological Capital Questionnaire(PCQ).Using SPSS17.0 for data ent ry and analysis,results were elicited by means of descriptive statis tics,T test,one-way ANOVA,Person correlation analysis and regress ion analysis.Results1 A total of 260 questionnaires were issued,216 valid questionnaires were recovered,and the effective recovery rate was 83.1%.The head nurses were expected to do more,which included understanding nurse,caringnurse,helping them to promote research capability and ability to apply new knowledge and new technology,construction of department.Some aspects were emphasized to do less,for example,critisizing nurse,having a meeting or training at rest time.2 The total score of nurses' psychological capital was 91.35±10.99,average score was 4.56±0.55.Self efficacy,optimism,resilience an d hope scores were resprctively 4.71±0.57,4.62±0.85,4.54±0.71,4.42±0.69.There were statistical difference in age,nursing age,marit al status,post,professional title,department and monthly income.T he results showed no statistical difference was found in gender,edu ational background,and the way of employment.3 The total score of transformational leadership was 105.60±8.33,av erage score was 4.06±0.32.Moral model,charisma influence,vision ary motivation and individulized consideration scores were resprctiv ely 4.40±0.46,4.17±0.38,3.80±0.48,3.76±0.44.There were statis tical difference in post,department,professional title and the way of employment.There was no statistical difference in gender,age,ed uational background,nursing age,marital status and monthly income.4 The total score of transformational leadership was positively assoc iated the total score of nurses' psychological capital(P< 0.01,r=0.129)and the score of nurses' Self efficacy(P< 0.01,r=0.178).The s core of moral model was positively correlated to the score of nurses' Self efficacy(P< 0.01,r=0.289),the score of hope(P< 0.01,r=0.202),the score of resilience(P< 0.05,r=0.157)and the total score o f the total score of nurses' psychological capital(P< 0.01,r=0.229).The score of visionary motivation presented positive relevance with the score of nurses' Self efficacy(P< 0.05,r=0.171)and the score o f optimism(P< 0.05,r=0.239).The score of individulized considerati on showed positive correlation to the score of resilience(P< 0.05,r=0.262)and the score of optimism(P< 0.05,r=0.154).The score of ch arisma influence was closely related to the score of hope(P< 0.05,r=0.169).5 By the hierarchical regression analysis,demographic variables were put into the first layer of the independent variables,transformational leadership score was put into second independent variables.The results showed that regression model fitted well(Beta=0.122,R2=0.116,F=4.538,P< 0.01).Excluding the impact of demographic variables,transformational leadership of head nurse could still explain 11.6% variation of nurses' psychological capital.By the multiple stepwise regression analysis,the total score of psychological capital acted as the dependent variable,every dimension score of transformational leadership and demographic variables acted as independent variables.Finally,professional title,department,monthly income,moral model and individulized consideration came into the regression model.The results showed that regression model fitted well(R2=0.317,F=5.275,P< 0.01).These factors could account for 31.7% variance of nurses' psychological capital.Conclusions1 The score of nurses' psychological capital was slightly above the intermediate level in first-class tertiary hospitals of Jinan.Four d imensions score from high level to low level were Self efficacy,opti mism,resilience and hope.The level of nurses' psychological capital was related to age,nursing age,marital status,post,professional ti tle,department and monthly income.2 The score of head nurses' leadership behavior was well in accordanc e with transformational leadership in first-class tertiary hospitalso f Jinan.Charge nurses did well in moral model and charisma influence,but they need improvement in the aspects of visionary motivation and individulized consideration.The level of transformational leader ship which nurses perceived was related to professional titles,depar tments and the way of employment.3 There was positive correlation between head nurses' transformationa l leadership and nurses' psychological capital,self-efficacy.Moral model was positively related to self efficacy,hope,resilience and the total score of psychological capital.Visionary motivation showed positive correlation to self efficacy and optimism.Individulized co nsideration was positively correlated with resilience and optimism.Ch arisma influence presented positive correlation to hope.Transformati onal leadership behaviors of head nurses have a positive predictive e ffect on nurses' psychological capital.Nurses' professional title,d epartment,monthly income and what head nurses behaved in moral mode l and individulized consideration were influencing factors of nurses' psychological capital.4 It is indicated that head nurses should advocate the implementation of transformational leadership in the management of clinical care.