Effect of Paternalistic Leadership Educational Program For Head Nurses on Staff Nurses’ psychological Empowerment

Background: Paternalistic leadership plays a pivotal role in fostering a supportive, growth-oriented culture within healthcare organizations, thereby influencing the psychological empowerment of staff nurses to excel and deliver exceptional care amidst evolving healthcare dynamics. The study aimed to assess the effect of paternalistic leadership educational program for head nurses on staff nursespsychological empowerment. Design : Aquasi-experimental design was utilized. Setting : The study was conducted in all inpatient units at the medical and surgical buildings at Benha University Hospital. Subjects : All 77 head nurses and 300 staff nurses who were available in the previously mentioned setting during the time of data collection. Tools: Three tools were used for data collection; (1)Paternalistic leadership knowledge questionnaire, (2)Paternalistic leadership skills self-report and (3) nurses ‘psychological empowerment scale. The study results : Showed that more than three-quarters (76.6%)of head nurses had poor knowledge level related to paternalisticleadership dimensions at pre-program phase, which it improved to be the majority (80.5%) of them had good knowledge level at post program phase with slightly decrease to be 76.6% at follow up phase. The majority (89.6% & 85.5%) of head nurses had high paternalistic leadership skills at immediate post program and followup phases respectively compared to none of them at pre-program phase. Themost(85.2% and 83.1%) of staff nurses had high psychological empowerment levelat immediate post program and follow up phases respectively compared to pre-program phase (10.5%). The study concluded: that there was a highly statistically significant positive correlation among head nurses knowledge, and skills regardingpaternalistic leadership and psychological empowerment at immediate post andfollow up program phases. The study recommended : Conducting training in effective paternalistic leadership for aspiring head nurses prior to their appointments to managerial and administrative roles to effectively lead and empower their staff nurses while maintaining a supportive and empowering environment.