Nursing, leadership and academia: Passing the baton

Should I stay or should I go? Nursing and midwifery academics intention to stay in or leave academia: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

There is a chronic lack of appropriately qualified nurses and midwives being attracted into and remaining in the academic workforce. Reasons for this are not well understood but have been linked to stressful work environments related to balancing multiple roles in sometimes unsupportive environments, resulting in overload and demoralisation.

AIM

To illuminate factors associated with nursing and midwifery academics' intention to remain in academia and factors associated with intention to leave.

DESIGN

A scoping review was undertaken to provide a comprehensive and broad analysis of the related literature. This was guided by Arksey and O'Malley. A search strategy was developed using a combination of keywords and subject headings and adapted for four electronic databases to search for papers published between 2013 and 2024.

METHODS

The review included five steps: (i) identifying the question, (ii) identifying relevant studies, (iii) study selection, (iv) data charting, (v) collating, summarising, and reporting the results. Covidence systematic review software was used. Quality appraisal was undertaken using the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool (MMAT).

RESULTS

A total of 2870 papers were identified, 23 were included in the review. Retaining academics includes addressing issues related to promotion positive work environments such teamwork, professional relationships, supporting older academics, and professional development. Preventing attrition includes addressing emotional exhaustion and burnout, and ensuring academics feel valued and are recognised. Notably, there was a lack of research related to the Indigenous nursing and midwifery academic workforce.

CONCLUSION

Given the predicted workforce shortages it is imperative for nursing education providers to develop strategies to promote healthy work environments and career pathways, and identify how to develop strong leadership in an ageing nursing and midwifery academic workforce. Importantly, the lack of research related to the Indigenous academic workforce is concerning and must be a priority area for focus.

The everyday phenomenology of bedside insight: Response to Paley's critique of phenomenological research in nursing

The quality of phenomenological research in nursing has been a subject of long-standing debate and critique, but conversation took a particularly contentious turn following publication of John Paley's 2017 Phenomenology as Qualitative Research (Routledge), which elicited strong reactions. Faculty in nursing doctoral programs now face a challenge: in light of current controversies, what can we teach that is appropriately labeled phenomenological, and is there a way to present philosophical concepts that might equip students to avoid the most egregious mistakes of the past? In this article, I suggest that ordinary clinical nursing practice is an inherently phenomenological enterprise, and creative bedside insights belong at the center of our teaching, as they embody an everyday phenomenology which exemplifies core elements of the phenomenological method. Instead of following ever-more-precisely elaborated instructional manuals, I propose, our students should begin their studies of phenomenology by returning attention to the way creative insight emerges during routine care. Bedside insights have been rendered invisible by our discipline's valuing of technical proceduralism over artistry in research and by the turn to evidence-based practice in clinical work, but they are a valuable pathway to learning and should be part of our response to the current crisis.

Assessment of Nurse Educator Leadership: Instrument Development and Psychometric Analysis

AIM

Study purposes were to 1) establish the relevance and clarity of a new instrument, the Leadership in Nursing Education (LNE©) for nurse educators, and 2) provide evidence to support the reliability and validity of the LNE.

BACKGROUND

The future of nursing education is dependent upon the leadership of nurse faculty. Competency development requires self-assessment to engage in meaningful pathways for leadership development.

METHOD

A Delphi study was conducted with 50 nurse faculty leaders to determine the content validity of the LNE. The final instrument was then sent to nurse faculty across the United States to assess its psychometric properties.

RESULTS

The LNE was determined to be a reliable instrument for the population tested. Three distinct subscales emerged from the exploratory factor analysis: strategic, relational, and authentic.

CONCLUSION

The LNE fills a gap in nurse educator leadership assessment and provides evidence to support the instrument's reliability and validity.

A Descriptive Study Examining the Correlation of Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Styles to Conflict Management Styles of Nursing School Administrators

AIM

This study aimed to identify if a correlation exists among trait emotional intelligence (EI), leadership styles, and conflict management styles used by nurse education administrators.

BACKGROUND

Nursing is fraught with incivility, bullying, and increasing physical aggression. Conflict surrounds nurses at every level. EI and leadership styles in nursing have been addressed. Few studies were found that addressed conflict management by nurse education administrators.

METHOD

A quantitative nonexperimental correlational design using discriminant analysis was used in this study.

RESULTS

Trait EI factors of emotionality and sociability correlated with conflict management styles. Leadership styles and conflict management styles were situational; management styles of integrating and compromising were underused in conflict situations.

CONCLUSION

Nurse education administrators are in a position to become disruptive innovators in changing the nursing culture. The increased use of conflict management styles of integrating and compromising can help address incivility and bullying.

A philosophical analysis of anti-intellectualism in nursing: Newman's view of a university education

Canadian and international nursing educators are increasingly concerned with the quality of university nursing education. Contemporary nursing education is fraught by a growing anti-intellectualism coupled with the dominance of neoliberalism and corporate university business culture. Amid these challenges, nursing schools must prepare nurses to provide care in an era compounded by social and health inequities. The purpose of this paper was to explore the philosophical and contextual factors influencing anti-intellectualism in nursing education. We use John Henry Newman's view of the purpose of a university education as a heuristic perspective to examine anti-intellectualism in nursing. We contend that the ideological worship of technological advances, a culture of consumerism, quality improvement and risk management, the primacy of doing over thinking, competency-based curricula and business models rooted in neoliberal financial policies reinforce anti-intellectualism in nursing. Anti-intellectualism is a complex issue to address within the corporate university culture. We propose multiple strategies at the disciplinary, university and sociopolitical levels to decrease anti-intellectualism. Counteracting anti-intellectualism requires critical thinking, praxis and emancipation. Nurses should critically examine this anti-intellectual trend as it limits the advancement of the discipline and marginalizes its contributions within the academy. If nurses do not address this challenge, the survival of nursing as an academic discipline may be jeopardized.