Abstract
Background: In the literature the need to shape leadership skills in nursing in the process of education is stressed. In order for it to be effective, actions need to be undertaken including some personality traits which may frequently be observed in students of nursing (e.g. perfectionism and self-efficacy). The role of personality traits in acquiring leadership skills is not recognized well. The aim of the study was determining whether perfectionism may be treated as a mediator between the feeling of one’s own efficacy, and authentic leadership skills in students of nursing.Methods: The group of people studied consisted of 615 students of nursing (Women = 96.3%, n=592; Men = 3.7%, n=23), who made up 67.51 % all students of the discipline. The following research tools were used: Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R), and General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES).Results: The level of perfectionism is a significant mediator of relations between self-efficacy (GSES) and the level of authentic leadership (Sobel Test: t = 6.958; p = 0.000). The relation, without a mediating factor, is positive, and standardized beta coefficient for the feeling of own efficacy totals beta = 0.470 (p = 0.000), while in the presence of a mediator the strength of the correlation is smaller and amounts to beta = 0.366 (p = 0.000).Conclusions: Taking into account personal variables (perfectionism and self-efficacy) in the process of shaping skills is of key importance. In order to increase the efficacy, the programs of teaching these skills should include mutual relation between perfectionism and self-efficacy.
Five-factor personality traits and subjective health among caregivers: The role of caregiver strain and self-efficacy.