Health promoting leadership practices in four Norwegian industries

Concept, Influencing Factors, and Interventions of Nursing Health Leadership: A Scoping Review

Background: With increasing burnout and turnover rates among nurses, health leadership can effectively improve the health and well-being of both leaders and staff. However, in the nursing field, the definition and mechanisms of health leadership remain unclear and require further research. Aim: The main objective of this study was to define the concept of health leadership in nursing, construct a nursing model program, and promote the formation of normative nursing health leadership theories and strategies. Evaluation: We searched the PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases. The following themes were extracted from the included articles: the concept, assessment tools for health leadership, influencing factors, intervention measures, and health effects. Key Issues: A systematic search of the relevant databases yielded 3161 initial search results. Thirty-two studies were eligible for inclusion. Research shows that the concepts and measurement tools of health leadership are rarely applied in the field of nursing. Health leadership is influenced by personal factors (e.g., leadership qualities such as care, support, courage, patience, tolerance for uncertainty, persuasion skills, work ethic, pressure, experience, effort-reward imbalance, etc.; specific knowledge; self-awareness; psychological capital; leadership style; motivation; consideration; and a commitment to health issues) and organizational factors (e.g., work environment, attention to subordinates, job expectations, and relationship transparency). Several studies have demonstrated that interventions, such as personal development planning, leadership training, face-to-face communication, self-directed learning, and reflection, are effective in promoting healthy leadership styles and improving the well-being of leaders and employees. Conclusions: We constructed a health leadership model as a reference for the development of relevant measurement tools and intervention strategies for the nursing field. Implications for Nursing Management: Nursing leaders should focus on their health and that of their subordinates, develop and implement health leadership, and aim for improvement in employees' well-being and nursing quality.

Cross-level effects of health-promoting leadership on nurse presenteeism: The mediation and moderation effect of workload and performance pressure

This study examines the cross-level influence mechanism of leaders’ health-promoting leadership on subordinates’ presenteeism among nursing industry. A multilevel mediated moderation model was hypothesized to explore whether health-promoting leadership is associated with subordinates’ presenteeism via the workload of subordinates, and how leader’s performance pressure plays the role in the model. Questionnaires were distributed to 110 nursing teams, which including 110 chief nurses and 660 subordinate nurses. Our findings showed that although health-promoting leadership has no direct impact on presenteeism, health-promoting leadership has an indirect impact on presenteeism via workload, and workload acts as a complete mediator. Meanwhile, performance pressure moderated the relationship between health-promoting leadership and workload. With an increase in performance pressure of leaders, the negative impact of health-promoting leadership on nurse workload gradually weakened. In this multilevel mediated moderation model, the mediated moderating effect of performance pressure was significant and the moderating effect was completely mediated, which means that the interaction between health-promoting leadership and performance pressure can affect presenteeism through workload. When leaders were under high performance pressure, the protective effect of health-promoting leadership on workload would be inhibited. These findings contribute to enriching the research on presenteeism, providing insight into how the health development of employees and performance demands of leaders may be balanced, and affording fresh thoughts for effective prevention and treatment of nurse presenteeism.

Strategizing Human Development for a Country in Transition from a Resource-Based to a Knowledge-Based Economy

Human development plays a profound role in achieving sustainable development, by utilizing the power of well-educated blue- and white-collar laborers, academics, politicians, and people from every layer of society and the economy. However, there is no single path for human development. Planning, designing, and implementing policies for human development require country-specific approaches, based on unique characteristics such as historical development trajectories, future goals, the commitment of leadership, culture, geography, and climate, to name a few. Such strategies become even further challenging for countries that aim to achieve radical transformations from resource-based to innovation-driven and knowledge-based economies, to achieve sustainable development. In this study, a conceptual model for a holistic human development strategy in line with sustainable economic development was first designed by employing design and systems thinking approaches. Second, under the guidance of this conceptual model, an integrated policy framework for Qatar is proposed to propel the quality and quantity of human capital to achieve economic diversification and, thus, sustainable development. Third, semi-structured interviews with experts and decision-makers in relevant fields were conducted to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed policy framework. As a proof-of-concept, the interview results validated—but were not limited to—the following outcomes. First, the proposed conceptual model has considerable potential to deliver robust, feasible, and effective policies from the initiation to the implementation of strategy development. Second, selectively recruiting highly skilled expatriate professionals under progressive residency policies provides incentives for them to become long-term residents. This would attract global human capital to complement the aim of economic diversification, a sustainable economy, and human development goals. Third, carefully designed university-industry-government partnerships and technical training programs will enable the development of appropriate innovation, professional, and business skills in the local population and facilitate economic diversification goals. Finally, empowering female entrepreneurs and investors will increase women’s empowerment while accelerating economic diversification—and, thus, sustainable development.

Introducing the Practice Dive Approach: an extension of co-creation in physical activity promotion and health promotion

Recently, there has been increasing interest in co-creation utilized for physical activity (PA) promotion and health promotion. Co-creation involves researchers and non-academic stakeholders conjointly developing and implementing interventions. In addition to the frequently reported benefits of co-creation, critical voices highlight the associated challenges (e.g. different interests that inhibit interaction). So far, research has not identified concrete solutions to these challenges and the limitations of co-creation. This article aims to introduce the Practice Dive Approach as a potential way to strengthen cooperation between researchers and non-academic stakeholders. We build on real-life experiences from a German research project, in which researchers moved into practice to familiarize themselves with the settings and end-users. After conducting a literature search on related concepts in PA/health promotion, we developed a comprehensive approach to fostering multi-sectoral cooperation. The introduced Practice Dive Approach assumes that a significant contribution to better cooperation among co-creators is the temporal immersion of researchers in their setting of interest, which has the potential to improve the success of co-creation in the PA/health promotion field. A four-level typology characterizes the intensity of researcher interactions with the setting and the non-academic stakeholders. Potential beneficial effects for both researchers and non-academic stakeholders can be hypothesized (e.g. familiarity with the setting structures and increased understanding of the end-users), while simultaneously, some challenges need to be considered. Future research should aim to validate the concept and its postulated effects.

Collaboration among researchers and non-academic stakeholders is increasingly used to promote physical activity and health. For example, people involved in such collaborations jointly develop new interventions. Potential challenges include different interests or work routines that can complicate cooperation. This article aims to introduce the Practice Dive Approach as a potential way to improve cooperation between researchers and non-academic stakeholders. We developed the approach based on observations from a German research project and a literature search on related concepts. This approach assumes that the temporal involvement of researchers in their setting of interest can strengthen research-practice cooperation and improve its success. We describe different types of a Practice Dive and the requirements for conducting Practice Dive activities. Furthermore, we present the potential effects of a Practice Dive for the researchers and the non-academic stakeholders, such as increased familiarity between both groups. However, some challenges need to be considered when applying the Practice Dive Approach. Future research should test this approach and its potential effects.

Health-Promoting Leadership: Concept, Measurement, and Research Framework

Employee health is not only positively related to the employee well-being and family happiness, but also impacts organizations, and society as a whole. We searched the health-promoting leadership literature in the following databases: Web of Science, ProQuest, EBSCO, and a Chinese local database. Based on this research, we clarify the concept of health-promoting leadership, propose a definition of health-promoting leadership, and examine measurement scales for this type of leadership. We also suggest a research framework for health-promoting leadership, demonstrating its potential outcomes at both the individual level (e.g., health, well-being, job attitudes) and the organizational level (e.g., health management culture and practices); the mechanisms for its development based on conservation of resources theory, the job demands–resources model, social learning theory, and social exchange theory; and antecedents (e.g., health values, health awareness, organizational health culture, organizational health climate, and organizational health promotion behavior control). Finally, we identify six potential research areas: Research level, performance, the impacts of health-promoting leaders on themselves, moderators, research methods, and intervention effects on health-promoting leadership.

Total Worker Health: A Small Business Leader Perspective

Total Worker Health® (TWH) frameworks call for attention to organizational leadership in the implementation and effectiveness of TWH approaches. It is especially important to study this within in the small business environment where employees face significant health, safety, and well-being concerns and employers face barriers to addressing these concerns. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how small business leaders perceive employee health, safety, and well-being in the context of their own actions. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 small business senior leaders and used a qualitative coding approach to analyze the transcripts to determine the frequency with which leaders discussed each code. When we asked leaders about their leadership practices for health, safety, and well-being, leaders reflected upon their business (65%), themselves (28%), and their employees (7%). Leaders rarely discussed the ways in which they integrate health, safety, and well-being. The interviews demonstrate that small business leaders care about the health of their employees, but because of the perceived value to their business, not to employees or themselves. Thus, they may lack the knowledge and skills to be successful TWH leaders. The present study supports a need for continued small business TWH leadership research.