The empowering leadership style perceptions according to the emotional and work overload perceptions in Italian nurses: a pilot studyilot study

Elsa Vitale; Rocco Mea; Alessia Lezzi; Stefano Botti; Ivan Rubbi; Luana Conte; Giovanna Artioli; Roberto Lupo

doi:10.23750/abm.v95i4.16018

The empowering leadership style perceptions according to the emotional and work overload perceptions in Italian nurses: a pilot studyilot study

Authors

Elsa Vitale ASL Bari
Rocco Mea Cardiology Unit, San Carlo hospital, Potenza, Italy
Alessia Lezzi Italian National Cancer Association (ANT), Lecce, Italy
Stefano Botti AUSL-IRCCS Reggio Emilia, Italy
Ivan Rubbi University of Bologna, Italy
Luana Conte Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Research Applied to Medicine (DReAM), University of Salento and ASL (Local Health Authority) Lecce, Italy
Giovanna Artioli University of Parma, Italy
Roberto Lupo Emergency Department, San Giuseppe da Copertino Hospital, Lecce, Italy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v95i4.16018

Keywords:

Emotional overload, Empower, Leadership, Nurse, Work overload

Abstract

Background and aim: Leadership was recognized as the skill to persuade workers’ capabilities and interests by leading and stimulating them to reach organizational outcomes for a winning and efficient organization. The present study aimed to investigate how the nursing empowering leadership style impacted on the emotional and work overload conditions in Italian nurses. Methods: A pilot, observational study using snowball- sampling method was carried out from October 2021 to February 2022. Data collected included: sex, age, work experience in nursing, shift working, education in nursing, emotional and work overload perceptions and the empowerment of leadership perceived by nurses on their nursing managers thanks to the Italian version of the Empowering Leadership Questionnaire (ELQ). Results: A total of 126 nurses were enrolled in this study. No significant differences were registered in sampling characteristics according to participants’ perceptions (p<0.05) according to their emotional overload perceptions. By considering the empowerment of leadership perceived according to participants’ emotional overload perceptions, no significant associations were reported (p<0.05). Conclusions: The empowering leadership style perception was not associated to emotional and work overload nurses’ ones in the present study including Italian nurses. However, further researches were required to determine what elements of nurses were most effective in improving the working conditions of Italian nurses. Maybe, nursing empowering leadership style alone could not develop and promote healthy work environments fin optimizing quality care for patients.

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