Caring for the caregiver during COVID-19 outbreak: Does inclusive leadership improve psychological safety and curb psychological distress? A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Public health emergencies and epidemics shatter the assumptions of the world as a safe place. Healthcare workers are at the forefront of such pressures resulting from a persistent threat to their safety and well being. It is therefore important to study such mechanisms that can influence and predict the psychological distress of nurses Objectives While there is an increasing number of studies on positive outcomes of leadership styles, their influence on curbing unwanted adverse outcomes is scarce. This study aims to observe the influence of an inclusive leadership style on psychological distress while assessing the mediating role of psychological safety. It uses the theoretical lens of job demands-resources theory and the theory of shattered assumptions to develop and test hypotheses. Design Cross-Sectional Study with Temporal Separation Settings and Participants The researchers recruited 451 on-duty registered nurses from 5 hospitals providing patient care during the highly infectious phase of COVID-19 in January 2020 in Wuhan city, the epicentre of the outbreak in China Methods After obtaining permission from hospital administration, data were collected through an online questionnaire survey in three stages with temporal separation to avoid common method bias. Partial least square structural equation modelling was used to analyze data. The study controlled for effects of age, gender, experience, working hours and education. Results Hypothesized relationships proved significant. Inclusive leadership has an inverse relationship with psychological distress with a strong path-coefficient. Psychological safety mediates the relationship between inclusive leadership and psychological distress while explaining 28.6% variance. Multi-group analysis results indicate no significant differences between respondents based on these control variables Conclusions Recurring or prolonged experiences of stress and anxiety at the workplace, without a mechanism to counter such effects, can culminate into psychological distress. Inclusive leadership style can serve as such a mechanism to curb psychological distress for healthcare workers by creating a psychologically safe environment.

Job Demands, Resources and Strains of Outpatient Caregivers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: A Qualitative Study

“…Working under respectful superiors was further described as a positive factor during the pandemic by interviewees. According to Zhao et al [ 84 ], inclusive leadership could be a mediating factor regarding distress and important for nurses in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeling more appreciated for their work at their workplace and/or by fellow people was another relevant job resource of our interviewees.…”

“…PTSD was also found among outpatient caregivers [ 68 ], as well as feeling threatened [ 45 ] or even having suicidal thoughts [ 40 , 41 ]. A positive strain reaction—decrease of stress perception due to work resources—was shown in one study on nursing staff [ 84 ].…”

The Combined Effect of Safety Specific Transformational Leadership and Safety Consciousness on Psychological Well-Being of Healthcare Workers

“…In this critical time, the role of leadership cannot be ignored (Billings et al, 2020;Sant'Ana et al, 2020;Zhao et al, 2020a). While studies have shown that transformational leadership, inclusive leadership and servant leadership seems to be a suitable leadership style for managing employees working in education sector during this pandemic, there is no evidence on the effectiveness of these leadership styles in hospitals settings and occupational safety offered by these leadership styles (Azizaha et al, 2020;Fournier et al, 2020;Zhao et al, 2020b;Antonopoulou et al, 2021;Piorun et al, 2021).…”

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses: Making progress in patient safety, learning from COVID-19

“…Workers experience satisfaction in doing work well and are supported or restrained by their work environment. New evidence from research on human factors and the value of psychological safety for workers—feeling free from bullying and incivility—is clarifying the need to feel supported in speaking up about unsafe care [ 23 ]. New studies examine the impact of human factors on how workers complete their work, including fatigue, interruptions, distractions, broken processes, unreliable equipment, and other human workplace interfaces [ 24 ].…”