Findings from a study of aspiring nursing student leaders.

BACKGROUND

Transformational leadership skills are critical to operate effectively in today's healthcare environment. Prelicensure nurses do not often practice these skills in a meaningful way during their undergraduate educational experience.

OBJECTIVES

This paper describes quantitative pre-post findings from the Kouzes and Posner Student Leadership Practices Inventory to examine students' leadership attributes pre-post engagement in an 18 month undergraduate leadership program.

DESIGN

This is a non-experimental convenience study that used a quantitative pre-post survey design collecting data from participants and observers using the 360 Kouzes and Posner Student Leadership Practices Inventory.

SETTINGS

A private university in the northeastern region of the United States.

PARTICIPANTS

Fourteen junior level nursing students who concurrently participated in a leadership program while concurrently completing their required academic courses for their bachelor's degree in nursing.

METHODS

Paired sample t-tests were used to determine if there was statistical significance among student participants' and observers' perceptions of specific leadership behaviors and skills of students at the onset (pretest) and at the conclusion (posttest) of the leadership program.

RESULTS

Participant and observer scores were positively correlated and statistical significance was identified in several practice areas.

CONCLUSIONS

It is important to integrate transformation leadership skills into undergraduate curriculum since it supports students' engagement in their own learning and instills foundational knowledge critical to their leadership trajectory.