Mapping Leadership in a Person-Centred Care Context: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Introduction: Recent decades have seen a significant increase in focus on person-centred care. However, its implementation is complex. Person-centred care is paradoxically simultaneously described as fundamental and as extra to the nursing practice. Although the significance of leadership for the delivery of person-centred care is recognised, less is known about what this entails.

Objective: Mapping leadership in a context of person-centred care.

Methods: The search strategy focuses on the two main concepts: leader(ship) and person-centred care, with results limited to studies published between 2010 and 2023. A convergent data synthesis was performed, enabling an analysis of study characteristics and a thematic inductive analysis of qualitative, quantitative and theoretical studies in one.

Results: A total of 27 studies were included. In these studies, the leadership subjects are almost all related to a formal (leadership) position. The included studies reference several leadership components. These include person-centred vision and culture, skills, being a role model, commitment/support, client engagement and facilitating forums and conditions for person-centred care. All components regard interactions or relationships. These can be found on different levels, ranging from interactions with the self, colleagues, patients, within the team and in the organisation.

Conclusions: This review shows leadership as a concept connected to formal positions and roles and as a set of qualities, characteristics and/or skills of an individual. However, it also shows the importance of person-centred vision and person-centred culture in leadership. This includes an implicit focus on values of good care and on interactions or relationships. We propose explicating the latter two elements in a notion of person-centred leadership as a starting point for improving nursing practice and training.