| As the American population becomes an aging population, there is an increased demand for long-term care health facilities. Registered nurses are in administrative positions that are responsible not only for favorable health care, but also retaining employees, containing costs, obtaining reimbursement for services, and maintaining state and federal requirements. The literature confirms the majority of these nursing administrators/directors of nursing is not educated at the undergraduate degree level, and lack knowledge of the leadership styles needed for the role complexities.; The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the self-perceived leadership styles of nursing administrators employed in long-term care facilities and to study the relationship among educational level, institutional characteristics, and the self-perceived leadership styles. Using the Hersey and Blanchard (1979, 2000) LEAD-Self instrument, data were collected on the self-perceived primary and secondary leadership styles, style range, and style adaptability of 35 randomly selected, participating nursing administrators in long-term care facilities from five southern states. A demographic questionnaire collected information on nursing education and institutional characteristics of the nursing administrators. Data were analyzed using Chi-square. Findings indicated that 25 (71.4%) of the nursing administrators surveyed in the long-term care facilities had less than an undergraduate degree in nursing. The dominant primary self-perceived leadership style score on the LEAD-Self instrument chosen by 23 (65.7%) of the nursing administrator participants was coaching (selling). The secondary self-perceived leadership style choice used by 15 (42.9%) of the respondents was supporting (participative). There was a statistically significant relationship (p = .011) between leadership style adaptability score and age. Of the nursing administrators reporting, 30 (85.7%) had an annual turnover rate of 10% or greater of directed personnel. |
