Zhang Guowen, Tian Wen, Zhang Ying, Chen Juanjuan, Zhang Xiaohong, Lin Wenfeng, Li Huiping, Sun Liqin, Cheng Baozhen, Ding Hui, Song Guiqi
Department of Nursing, Department of Emergency, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230001, China.
School of Nursing, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230602, China.
BMC Nurs. 2023 Nov 22;22(1):441. doi: 10.1186/s12912-023-01610-4.
Caring behavior among nurses would have an impact on patient outcomes. External organizational job resources and personal internal psychological resources are correlated to nurses' caring behavior. Authentic leadership and psychological capital were shown to be correlated with nurses' caring behavior in previous studies. However, the relationships among the three are nevertheless unclear. This study aimed to examine if psychological capital could act as a mediator between nursing managers' authentic leadership and nurses' caring behavior.
In December 2021, a total of 3,662 nurses were recruited from 37 hospitals in Anhui Province, China. They filled out online surveys, including general demographic information, the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and the Caring Behavior Inventory. Structural Equation Modeling and the bootstrapping procedure were used to examine the mediating role of psychological capital.
The scores of authentic leadership, psychological capital, and caring behavior of 3,495 nurses were 52.04 ± 13.24, 96.89 ± 17.78, and 104.28 ± 17.01, respectively. Psychological capital significantly mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and nurses' caring behavior (β = 0.378, p < 0.001, 95% confidence interval: 0.350 ~ 0.402), which made up 78.75% of the total impact (0.480).
The findings of this study suggested that nursing managers should develop an authentic leadership style, which can effectively improve nurses' caring behaviors toward patients in clinical practice. Meanwhile, nursing leaders should strengthen nurses' psychological evaluation and training, and promote nurses' caring behavior in clinical settings.
护士的关怀行为会对患者的治疗结果产生影响。外部组织工作资源和个人内部心理资源与护士的关怀行为相关。以往研究表明，真诚领导和心理资本与护士的关怀行为相关。然而，三者之间的关系尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨心理资本是否能在护理管理者的真诚领导与护士的关怀行为之间起中介作用。
2021年12月，从中国安徽省37家医院共招募了3662名护士。他们填写了在线调查问卷，包括一般人口统计学信息、真诚领导问卷、心理资本问卷和关怀行为量表。采用结构方程模型和Bootstrap法检验心理资本的中介作用。
3495名护士的真诚领导、心理资本和关怀行为得分分别为52.04±13.24、96.89±17.78和104.28±17.01。心理资本在真诚领导与护士关怀行为之间起显著中介作用（β=0.378，p<0.001，95%置信区间：0.350~0.402），占总效应（0.480）的78.75%。
本研究结果表明，护理管理者应培养真诚领导风格，这能在临床实践中有效提高护士对患者的关怀行为。同时，护理领导者应加强对护士的心理评估和培训，促进护士在临床环境中的关怀行为。
