Undergraduate Nursing Faculty's Lived Experience of Authentic Leadership in Nursing Education

Date

2021-05

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Abstract

Current nursing practice is encountering challenges with retention, burnout, and staff satisfaction. Nurses are caring for patients who are more critically ill; expected to do more with less; and experiencing increased demands of their time due to nursing staff shortages. Research has shown how Authentic Leadership (AL) can positively impact nursing practice. However, there is a significant research gap of faculty lived experiences with or without the application of AL and its overall impact on nursing education. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of undergraduate nursing faculty and current use of AL in nursing education. The primary aim was to focus on the common experiences of undergraduate nursing faculty with Authentic Leadership. Utilizing the phenomenology approach, this research sought to explore the essence of the lived experience of nursing faculty within or without AL. Six nursing faculty from Midwestern undergraduate nursing programs participated in qualitative interviews. Transcripts from the interviews were repeatedly reviewed and coded for identification of emerging themes. Through thematic analysis, eight emerging themes were initially identified and then refined into three main themes: 1) knew how I wanted to lead; 2) culture of support; and 3) faculty efficacy. This study provided the significant positive impact of AL on nurse educators. The positive effects on nursing faculty has the potential to also positively impact their students, to be studied in the future. Increased AL in undergraduate nursing education could lead to healthy work environments, which would help to positively address the retention, burnout, and stressful work settings that nurses are facing across the nation. The researcher recommends future study of the lived experience of undergraduate nursing faculty with or without authentic leadership on a much larger scale.

Description

Keywords

Nursing, Higher education, Educational leadership, Authentic leadership, Nursing education, Nursing faculty, Leadership

Citation

Diedrichsen, K. M. (2021). Undergraduate nursing faculty's lived experience of authentic leadership in nursing education. [Doctoral dissertation, Bryan College of Health Sciences].

DOI