LEADERSHIP AND QUALITY OF PATIENT CARE IN NURSING HOMES: A PATH-GOAL MODEL OF LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS (NEW YORK, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA).
Contributors: Case Western Reserve University.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 168
Subjects: Gerontology.
Description: Staff behavior has been widely recognized in social gerontology as a crucial component in the provision of quality of patient care in nursing homes. Yet, staff leadership has only been given cursory examination in relationship to quality of patient care. This study proposed a multivariate conceptual model based on the path-goal theory of leadership to examine leadership effectiveness. Specifically, it examined the relationship between charge nurse leadership behaviors and staff motivational factors, which in turn influence the quality of patient care on the nursing care unit.

The study used an exploratory descriptive cross-sectional design. A convenience sample of VA owned and operated nursing homes was utilized. The unit of analysis for this study was 39 individual nursing care units in 12 VA nursing homes in New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The measures for the various concepts in the model were incorporated into two questionnaires, one for staff and one for patients, and also into a chart audit form. A qualitative section was also included, consisting of open-ended interviews with nine charge nurses.

There were three major findings in this study. First, the data analysis revealed very little support for the leadership theory being tested. Secondly, the study examined the organizational variables of: leadership, staff attitudes toward the elderly, staff perceived job competence, staff involvement in the job, and work group cohesiveness and their impact upon quality of patient care in nursing homes and concluded that these variables have direct impact upon quality of patient care. Finally, the study also pointed out the need to consider the impact of staff attitudes and the impact of work cohesion on worker's motivation; an area not previously examined in motivational theory development. Practice, policy, and methodological implications of the study are discussed.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, Section: A, page: 0460.

Thesis (PH.D.)--CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, 1987.

School code: 0042.