Observation Study Essay

JAN
ORIGINAL RESEARCH

JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING

Nurses’ and midwives’ clinical leadership development needs: A mixed methods study
Mary Casey, Martin McNamara, Gerard Fealy & Ruth Geraghty
Accepted for publication 18 December 2010

Correspondence to M. Casey: e-mail: mary.casey@ucd.ie Mary Casey MMedSci (Nurs) PhD RN Head of Teaching and Learning (Graduate) UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland Martin McNamara BSc EdD RN Dean and Head of School UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland Gerard Fealy BNS PhD RN Associate Professor UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland Ruth Geraghty BA MA MSc Research Assistant UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland

C A S E Y M . , M C N A M A R A M . , F E A L Y G . & G E R A G H T Y R . ( 2 0 1 1 ) Nurses’ and midwives’ clinical leadership development needs: a mixed methods study. Journal of Advanced Nursing 67(7), 1502–1513. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2010.05581.x

Abstract
Aim. This paper is a report of a descriptive study of nurses’ and midwives’ clinical leadership development needs. Background. Nurses and midwives are expected to fulfil a leadership role at all levels, yet efforts to strategically support them are often unfocused. An analysis of clinical leadership development needs can provide the foundation for leadership initiatives to support staff. Method. A mixed methods design was used. A questionnaire was sent to 911 nurses and midwives and 22 focus groups comprising 184 participants were conducted. Data were collected between March and June 2009 across all promotional grades of nurses and midwives in Ireland. Repeated measures ANOVA with Greenhouse–Geisser adjustment was used for post hoc pair wise comparisons of the subscale dimensions of clinical leadership. ANOVA with Tukey’s post...