Kristin Akerjordet

Emotionally intelligent nurse leadership: a literature review study

AIM To establish a synthesis of the literature on the theoretical and empirical basis of emotional intelligence and its linkage to nurse leadership, focusing on subjective well-being and professional development. BACKGROUND Emotional intelligence has been acknowledged in the literature as supporting nurse leadership that fosters a healthy work environment, creating inspiring relationships based on mutual trust. Nurse leaders who exhibit characteristics of emotional intelligence enhance organizational, staff and patient outcomes. METHOD A literature search was undertaken using international data bases covering the period January 1997 to December 2007. Eighteen articles were included in this integrative review and were thoroughly reviewed by both authors. RESULTS Emotional intelligence was associated with positive empowerment processes as well as positive organizational outcomes. CONCLUSION Emotionally intelligent nurse leadership characterized by self-awareness and supervisory skills highlights positive empowerment processes, creating a favourable work climate characterized by resilience, innovation and change. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT Emotional intelligence cannot be considered a general panacea, but it may offer new ways of thinking and being for nurse leaders, as it takes the intelligence of feelings more seriously by continually reflecting, evaluating and improving leadership and supervisory skills.

The state of the science of emotional intelligence related to nursing leadership: an integrative review

AIM To explore the state of the science of emotional intelligence (EI) related to nursing leadership and its critiques. BACKGROUND The phenomenon of EI has emerged as a potential new construct of importance for nursing leadership that enhances educational, organizational, staff and patient outcomes. Nevertheless, important questions and critical reflections related to exaggerated claims, conceptualizations and measurements exist. METHOD A literature search was conducted using international databases covering the period January 1999 to December 2009. A manual search of relevant journals and significant references increased the data. RESULTS Critical reflection seems to be associated with the unsubstantiated predictive validity of EI in the area of nursing leadership. In addition, important moral issues are called into question. CONCLUSIONS It is important to possess in-depth knowledge of EI and its scientific critique when integrating the concept into nursing research, education and practical settings. More attention to the nature of emotion in EI is necessary. Implications for nursing leadership The dynamics of EI should be explored in the context of both the surrounding environment and individual differences, as the latter can be adaptive in some settings but harmful in others.

Emotion Regulation and Its Implications for Leadership: An Integrative Review and Future Research Agenda

This integrative review synthesizes research on emotion regulation and its implications for leadership, from both leaders’ and followers’ perspectives. Regulating one’s emotions is considered an area of key competence associated with effective and good leadership. Three themes emerged from the preliminary synthesis: (a) emotion regulation strategies as facilitators of health, (b) emotion regulation strategies as facilitators of job outcome, and (c) emotion regulation as barriers to health and job outcomes. Findings revealed that leaders’ emotion competencies, cultural understanding, and coaching ability and the quality of leader–member relationships seem particularly important for the efficiency of emotion regulation. Methodological shortcomings and future research are discussed.

Emotional intelligence: Part 1: the development of scales and psychometric testing.

This article, the first in a series of four, describes the development of two scales for deductive and inductive measurement of emotional intelligence (EI), based on the literature and the identification of the psychometric properties of the scales. The data collection comprised two parts: (i) a literature search on the subject of emotional intelligence; and (ii) psychometric testing of the scales. The Emotional Intelligence Scale, comprising 23 items, and the Emotional Reactions and Thoughts Scale, containing 25 items, were tested on a sample of 250 postnatal mothers. The response rate was 80%. An explorative factor analysis was used to investigate the construct validity of the underlying dimensions of emotional intelligence and yielded a three-factor solution for the Emotional Intelligence Scale and a four-factor solution for the Emotional Reactions and Thoughts Scale. The internal consistency of the scales was satisfactory. How well the factor solutions fit in clinical practice remains to be validated.

Measuring mental well-being: A validation of the Short Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale in Norwegian and Swedish

Aims: Mental health, currently one of the biggest challenges worldwide, requires attention and research. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Short Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS), and validate the scale for use in Norway and Sweden. SWEMWBS, which includes both hedonic and eudemonic principles of mental well-being, could facilitate useful future studies. Method: Data were collected among Norwegian and Swedish hotel managers (N=600) through self-rated online questionnaires. Tests used to examine the psychometric properties of the scale included descriptive statistics, correlations, reliability analyses, and explorative factor analyses in SPSS, as well as confirmatory factor analyses in AMOS. Robustness tests were run for gender and country subsamples. Results: The scale showed adequate internal consistency and reliability. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed moderate fit in Norway and Sweden. In addition, the scale showed acceptable construct, criterion-related, and discriminant validity. Conclusion: The psychometric properties of the SWEMWBS were acceptable in both the Norwegian and the Swedish translations of the scale.

How health professionals facilitate parents' involvement in decision-making at the hospital: A parental perspective

In many western countries, parents have a legal right to influence and be involved in decision-making (DM) surrounding their children’s healthcare. This ensures that the healthcare is customized as far as possible to meet the children’s and families’ needs and preferences. However, parental involvement in such DM is not sufficiently implemented and the parental role during hospitalizations has become demanding. More knowledge is required to inform health professionals (HPs) about how to improve parental involvement in DM from a health-promoting perspective. The aims of this study were to explore parents’ experiences of how HPs facilitate their involvement in the DM surrounding their child’s healthcare and to identify how HPs can improve parental involvement at the hospital. This was an explorative, descriptive qualitative study within a constructivist research paradigm, comprising a purposive sample of 12 parents participating in individual semi-structured interviews. Qualitative content analysis was performed. The findings showed that HPs’ sensitivity to parents’ capacity, resources and needs was essential in order to facilitate the latter’s involvement in DM. HPs’ sensitivity also seemed to influence the quality of communication and the HP-parent relationship. Moreover, these factors appeared to affect parents’ coping ability during their children’s hospitalization.