Effect of authentic leadership and mindfulness educational program on nursing managers' competencies: a quasi-experimental study.

Background: Authentic leadership is an emerging perspective in leadership that focuses on leaders' values and beliefs. while the mindfulness perspective permits nurse managers to be fully present, aware of themselves and their impact on others, and aware of their reactions in stressful situations. so, authentic leadership and mindfulness if combined create nurse managers who have clearer, more focused thinking, and a growth mindset that help subordinates improve and grow. as well as mindfulness-based interventions help them to improve interpersonal relationships with patients and colleagues, and to take better care of themselves and others.

Aim: The present study aims to; explore the effect of authentic leadership and mindfulness educational program on nursing managers' competencies in hospital.

Methods: A quasi-experimental design (Quantitative pre-, post-, and follow-up design) was used to conduct the study at Shirbeen General Hospital, Egypt. The study subjects consist of a purposive sample of 70 nurse managers and 226 nurses. Three tools used for data collection consisted of; the authentic leadership questionnaire, the five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, and the managerial competencies of Nurse Managers. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 20, Qualitative categorical variables were compared using the chi-square test. A significant level value was considered when the p-value ≤ 0.05, and Cohen's d was used to measure the effect size which indicated there was a large effect of educational program on post and follow-up knowledge, authentic leadership, mindfulness, and managerial competencies scores.

Results: The current study revealed that there were significant differences between nurse managers' knowledge, authentic leadership, mindfulness, and managerial competencies (P = 0.001) pre-, post-, and after 3 months of the program. As determined by Cohen's d test, there was a large effect of educational program on post and follow-up knowledge, authentic leadership, mindfulness, and managerial competencies scores.

Conclusion: The educational program about authentic leadership and mindfulness had a positive effect on nurse managers' managerial competencies.

Trial Registration Number (trn): The study protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Nursing, Port Said University, Egypt (code number: NUR 13/3/2022-11).