Heather Laschinger

• PHD
• Chair at Western University

Aim To examine predictors of Canadian new graduate nurses’ health outcomes over 1 year. Design A time‐lagged mail survey was conducted. Method New graduate nurses across Canada (N = 406) responded to a mail survey at two time points: November 2012–March 2013 (Time 1) and May–July 2014 (Time 2). Multiple linear regression (mental and overall healt...

Purpose This paper aims to test a model examining precursors and outcomes of nurses’ leadership self-efficacy, and their aspirations to management positions. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey of 727 registered nurses across Canada was conducted. Structural equation modelling using Mplus was used to analyse the data. Findings...

Background: Extended lifespans and complex resident care needs have amplified resource demands on nursing homes. Nurse managers play an important role in staff job satisfaction, research use, and resident outcomes. Coaching skills, developed through leadership skill-building, have been shown to be of value in nursing. Aims: To test a theoretical...

Aim: To describe new graduate nurses' transition experiences in Canadian healthcare settings by exploring the perspectives of new graduate nurses and nurse leaders in unit level roles. Background: Supporting successful transition to practice is key to retaining new graduate nurses in the workforce and meeting future demand for healthcare service...

Background: Nurses' turnover has a costly impact on organizations, patients, and nurses. Numerous studies have highlighted the critical role of nursing leadership in enhancing new nurses' retention. Purpose: To examine the influence of authentic leadership on new nurses' job turnover intentions through their personal identification with the lead...

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the influence of authentic leadership, person-job fit with 6 areas of worklife, and civility norms on coworker incivility and burnout among new graduate nurses. BACKGROUND: New graduate nurses report experiencing high levels of workplace incivility from coworkers, which has been found to negatively impact their job a...

Background: Incivility has negative consequences in the workplace and remains a prevalent issue in nursing. Research has consistently linked incivility to nurse burnout and, in turn, to poor mental health and turnover intentions. To retain high-quality nurses, it is important to understand what factors might protect nurses from the negative effect...

Aim: To test a model examining the effects of structural empowerment and support for professional practice on new graduate nurses' perceived professional practice behaviours, perceptions of care quality and subsequent job satisfaction and career turnover intentions. Background: The nursing worklife model describes relationships between supportiv...

Reports of poor working conditions persist amid ongoing healthcare restructuring. Simultaneously, nursing shortage threats continue as the nursing population ages. Leadership strategies that create empowering working conditions are likely to retain nurses who are eligible to retire, and attract future nurses to the profession. Several studies have...

Background: As the nursing profession ages, new graduate nurses are an invaluable health human resource. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing new graduate nurses' successful transition to their full professional role in Canadian hospital settings and to determine predictors of job and career satisfaction a...

The purpose of this study was to explore Rwandan nursing clinical instructors’ (CIs) experiences of structural and psychological empowerment. CIs play a vital role in students’ development by facilitating learning in health care practice environments. Quality nursing education hinges on the CI’s ability to enact a professional role. A descriptive q...

It is important to uncover new approaches to attracting and retaining newly qualified nurses in Canada to address the growing nursing workforce shortage. Authentic leadership theory proposes mechanisms that allow managers to create positive and supportive environments that facilitate new graduate nurses’ transition into practice and subsequently im...

The demanding nature of nursing work environments signals longstanding and growing concerns about nurses' health and job satisfaction and the provision of quality care. Specifically in healthcare settings, nurse leaders play an essential role in creating supportive work environments to avert these negative trends and increase nurse job satisfaction...

Background The frontline clinical manager role in healthcare is pivotal to the development of safe and healthy working conditions and optimal staff and patient care outcomes. However, in today's dynamic healthcare organizations managers face constant job demands from wider spans of control and complex role responsibilities but may not have adequate...

The aim of this paper was to test a theoretical model of long-term care staff perceptions of their work context, their managers’ use of coaching conversations, and self-report use of instrumental, conceptual and persuasive research in practice using structural equation modeling. Leadership, feedback, culture, staff, formal interactions, resources (...

To examine the relationships among the overall person-job match in the six areas of worklife, work-life interference, new nurses' experiences of burnout and intentions to leave their jobs. As a large cohort of nurses approaches retirement, it is important to understand the aspects of the nurses work-life that are related to turnover among new gradu...

A model linking authentic leadership, structural empowerment, and supportive professional practice environments to nurses' perceptions of patient care quality and job satisfaction was tested. Positive work environment characteristics are important for nurses' perceptions of patient care quality and job satisfaction (significant factors for retentio...

To examine a theoretical model testing the effects of authentic leadership, structural empowerment and relational social capital on the mental health and job satisfaction of new graduate nurses over the first year of practice. Relational social capital is an important interpersonal organizational resource that may foster new graduate nurses' workpl...

AimThe aim of this study was to examine the influence of structural empowerment, authentic leadership and professional nursing practice environments on experienced nurses’ perceptions of interprofessional collaboration.Background Enhanced interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is seen as one means of transforming the health-care system and addressin...

Study aim: To test a model derived from the Nursing Worklife Model linking elements of supportive practice environments to nurses' turnover intentions and behaviours in Canada and Australia. Background: With the worldwide shortage of nurses, retaining nurses within fiscally challenged health care systems is critical to sustaining the future of t...

Aims: To examine the relationship between nursing students' exposure to various forms of incivility in acute care practice settings and their experience of burnout. Background: Given that staff nurses and new nurse graduates are experiencing incivility and burnout in the workplace, it is plausible that nursing students share similar experiences...

The purpose of this study was to test a hypothesised model linking perceptions of workplace empowerment and psychological capital (PsyCap) to new graduate nurses’ work engagement by integrating theories of empowerment, PsyCap and work engagement. In response to the nursing shortage, efforts are needed to retain nurses by creating empowering work en...

Objective: This study tested a multilevel model examining the effects of work-unit structural empowerment and social capital on perceptions of unit effectiveness and nurses' ratings of patient care quality. Background: Structural empowerment and social capital are valuable resources for staff nurses that promote work effectiveness and high-quali...

The detrimental effects of burnout on nurses’ health and wellbeing are well documented and positive leadership has been shown to be an important organizational resource for discouraging the development of burnout. Intrapersonal resources also play a protective role against workplace stressors. This study investigated the influence of authentic lead...

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe findings from a study examining nurses' perceptions of incentives for pursuing management roles. Background: Upcoming retirements of nurse managers and a reported lack of interest in manager roles signal concerns about a leadership shortage. However, there is limited research on nurses' care...

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore front-line managers' (FLMs') perceptions of their span of control (SOC) and how they manage it. As part of a larger quantitative study examining relationships between FLMs' SOC and performance outcomes, 10 manager focus groups were conducted by teleconference, involving 48 managers from 14 academ...

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of subtle forms of workplace mistreatment (bullying and incivility) on Canadian nurses' perceptions of patient safety risk and, ultimately, nurse-assessed quality and prevalence of adverse events. Workplace mistreatment is known to have detrimental effects on job performance and in nursing may thr...

Nursing leaders are indispensable in creating positive nursing work environments that retain an empowered and satisfied nursing workforce. Positive and supportive leadership styles can lower patient mortality and improve nurses' health, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, emotional exhaustion, and intent to stay in their position. The resu...

INTRODUCTION Validated conceptual frameworks are needed to guide interprofessional research in order to build a systematic body of knowledge of interprofessional collaborative practice (ICP). A conceptual framework derived from an extensive review of the interprofessional literature was developed. In the framework, constructs that include personal...

Aim The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between nurses’ exposure to workplace bullying and PTSD symptomology and the protective role of intrapersonal resources (psychological capital). Background Workplace bullying has serious organizational and health effects in healthcare which threaten the quality of patient care. Few studies...

To test a model based on Kanter's theory of structural empowerment, which examines the relationships between new graduate nurses' perceptions of structural empowerment, workplace incivility and mental health symptoms. The initial years of practice can be particularly stressful for new graduate nurses, who may be particularly vulnerable to uncivil b...

Leaders play a key role in shaping positive work environments and consequently have important effects on organizational success by contrasting stressful working conditions, by discouraging negative interpersonal experiences and outcomes such as bullying and burnout and by promoting employee engagement and retention. This study examine the relations...

Hospital-based nurse educators are in a prime position to mentor future nurse leaders; however, they need to first develop their own leadership practices. The goal was to establish a learning community where hospital-based nurse educators could develop their own nursing leadership practices within an online environment that included teaching, cogni...

To examine the relationship between nurses' exposure to workplace bullying and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptomology and the protective role of psychological capital (PsyCap). Workplace bullying has serious organisational and health effects in nursing. Few studies have examined the relation of workplace bullying to serious mental health outco...

This study examined the influence of new graduate nurses' personal resources (psychological capital) and access to structural resources (empowerment and staffing) on their job satisfaction. Reports suggest that new graduate nurses are experiencing stressful work environments, low job satisfaction, and high turnover intentions. These nurses are a he...

Our aim was to examine the combination of frontline manager (FLM) personal characteristics and span of control (SOC) on their job and unit performance outcomes. Healthcare downsizing and reform have contributed to larger spans for FLMs in Canadian hospitals and increased concerns about manager workload. Despite a heightened awareness of SOC issues...

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between coworker, physician, and supervisor workplace incivility and new graduate nurses' mental health and the protective role of personal resiliency. Positive interpersonal relationships in healthcare work environments are important for new graduate nurses' career transition and commitment. W...

Abstract Although health professional educational programs have been successful in equipping graduates with skills, knowledge and professionalism, the emphasis on specialization and profession-specific education has enhanced the development of a uniprofessional identity, which has been found to be a major barrier to interprofessional collaborative...

AimTo determine if a leadership development programme based on an empowerment framework significantly increased leaders' use of empowering behaviours. Background Leadership programmes are effective ways to prepare nurse leaders for their complex roles. Relational competencies, such as leader empowering behaviours, are associated with improved leade...

Background: Health care leaders have called for the development of communication and leadership skills to improve manager-employee relationships, employee job satisfaction, quality care, and work environments. Purposes: The aim of the study reported here was to pilot how a 2-day coaching workshop ("Coaching for Impressive CARE") conducted as a l...

AimThe aim of this study was to examine whether participant views of job resources (i.e. trust and civility) towards their co-workers and supervisors were longitudinally predictive of workplace cynicism, an aspect of burnout. Background Cynicism is a significant predictor of intention to quit among nurses. Social supports are hypothesized to protec...

Destructive interpersonal experiences at work result in negative feelings among employees and negative work outcomes. Understanding the mechanisms through which bullying can lead to burnout and subsequent turnover is important for preventing and managing this problem. Leaders play a key role in shaping positive work environments by discouraging neg...

: This study explores correlates of new graduate nurses' experiences of workplace mistreatment. : New graduate nurses' experiences of workplace mistreatment, such as bullying, coworker incivility, and supervisor incivility, negatively influence nurses' work and health. It is unclear whether these forms of workplace mistreatment have similar precipi...

: The aim of this study was to examine new-graduate nurses' perceptions of the influence of authentic leadership and structural empowerment on the quality of interprofessional collaboration in healthcare work environments. : Although the challenges associated with true interprofessional collaboration are well documented, new-graduate nurses may fee...

Our aim was to investigate direct-care nurses' interests in formal management roles and factors that facilitate their decision-making. Based on a projected shortage of nurses by 2022, the profession could be short of 4200 nurse managers in Canada within the next decade. However, no data are currently available that identify nurses' interests in ass...

To examine the influence of personal and situational factors on direct-care nurses' interests in pursuing nursing management roles. Nursing managers are ageing and nurses do not appear to be interested in nursing management roles, raising concerns about a nursing leadership shortage in the next decade. Little research has focused on factors influen...

: Professional practice leadership (PPL) roles are those roles responsible for expert practice, providing professional leadership, facilitating ongoing professional development, and research. Despite the extensive implementation of this role, most of the available literature focuses on the implementation of the role, with few empirical studies exam...

Aim To examine the influence of senior nurse leadership practices on middle and first-line nurse managers’ experiences of empowerment and organizational support and ultimately on their perceptions of patient care quality and turnover intentions. Background Empowering leadership has played an important role in staff nurse retention but there is limi...

Health care providers (n = 1,957) in Canada participated in a project to assess an intervention to enhance workplace civility. They completed surveys before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and one year later. Results highlighted three patterns of change over the three assessments. These data were contrasted with data from cont...

Creating supportive and empowering workplace conditions is important, not only because these conditions are related to improved nurse health and well-being but also because they are important for retaining top performing nurses. The current nursing shortage emphasizes the need to create such conditions. The aim of this study was to examine the impa...

To report a study conducted to test a model linking authentic leadership of managers with nurses' perceptions of structural empowerment, performance, and job satisfaction. Authentic leadership has been proposed as the root element of effective leadership needed to build healthier work environments because there is special attention to the developme...

Retaining skilled and engaged nurses is critical during a time of shortage, however growing reports of workplace bullying threaten nurses' health and wellbeing, especially the transition of newly graduated nurses entering the profession. High rates of burnout and turnover among new nurses puts additional strain on limited financial resources in hea...

To describe new graduate nurses' worklife experiences in Ontario hospital settings in the first 2 years of practice and to examine predictors of job and career satisfaction and turnover intentions. With a large cohort of nurses approaching retirement, every effort must be made to ensure that the work environments of new graduate nurses are positive...

Aim To examine the relationships among nurses’ perceptions of nurse managers’ authentic leadership, nurses’ overall person–job match in the six areas of worklife and their work engagement. Background Reports have highlighted the impact of demanding and unsupportive work environments on nurses’ wellbeing, resulting in a need for strong nursing leade...

Aim To examine the effect of authentic leadership and structural empowerment on the emotional exhaustion and cynicism of new graduates and experienced acute-care nurses. Background Employee empowerment is a fundamental component of healthy work environments that promote nurse health and retention, and nursing leadership is key to creating these env...

The purpose of this study was to use a cross-sectional survey design, with an integrated theoretical perspective, to examine clinical teachers' (n = 64) and nursing students' (n = 352) empowerment, teachers' and students' perceptions of teachers' use of empowering teaching behaviors, students' perceptions of nurses' practice behaviors, and students...

The alarmingly high rate of illness-related absenteeism among nurses and recent reports of workplace violence and burnout are problematic for both the current workforce shortage and the recruitment and retention of new nurses. To test a model derived from Leiter and Maslach's (2004) Six Areas of Worklife Model linking workplace factors (six areas o...

The authors present findings of 2nd year nursing students' (N = 352) perceptions of their clinical teachers' use of empowering teaching behaviours (ETB) and to highlight steps undertaken to establish psychometric properties of the Empowering Teaching Behaviours Questionnaire-Student (ETBQ-S). The authors identify a) the process involved in the adop...

Concerns related to the complex issue of nursing turnover continue to challenge healthcare leaders in every sector of health care. Voluntary nurse turnover is shown to be influenced by a myriad of inter-related factors, and there is increasing evidence of its negative effects on nurses, patients and health care organizations. The objectives were to...

Baccalaureate nursing education prepares students to become registered nurses in evolving health care systems. During their program, students' perceptions of empowerment in the nursing profession begin to form, and they are introduced to the process of reflective thinking. The purpose of this integrative literature review is unique in that three co...

New graduate nurses currently experience a stressful transition into the workforce, resulting in high levels of burnout and job turnover in their first year of practice. This study tested a theoretical model of new graduate nurses' worklife derived from the job demands-resources model to better understand how job demands (workload and bullying), jo...

Although incivility has been identified as an important issue in workplaces, little research has focused on reducing incivility and improving employee outcomes. Health care workers (N = 1,173, Time 1; N = 907, Time 2) working in 41 units completed a survey of social relationships, burnout, turnover intention, attitudes, and management trust before...

The purpose of this study was to test Kanter's theory by examining relationships among structural empowerment, leader-member exchange (LMX) quality and nurses' participation in personal knowledge transfer activities. Despite the current emphasis on evidence-based practice in health care, research suggests that implementation of research findings in...

Professional Practice Leadership (PPL) roles were introduced in response to health care professionals’ concerns about the loss of professional autonomy and other possible negative consequences on professional practice arising out of the widespread implementation of program management during health care restructuring. Despite the extensive implement...

To test the psychometric properties of a newly developed measure of staff nurse clinical leadership derived from Kouzes and Posner's model of transformational leadership. While nurses have been recognized for their essential role in keeping patients safe, there has been little empirical research that has examined clinical leadership at the staff nu...

Unit-level leadership and structural empowerment play key roles in creating healthy work environments, yet few researchers have examined these contextual effects on nurses' well-being. The aim of this study was to test a multilevel model of structural empowerment examining the effect of nursing unit leadership quality and structural empowerment on...

Reflective thinking is often stated as a learning outcome of baccalaureate nursing education, and as a characteristic of a competent professional; however, no consistent method exists to assess the extent to which students engage in reflective thinking. To address this need, Kember and Leung developed and tested a self-report questionnaire based on...

This paper is a report of a study conducted to test a model linking new graduate nurses' perceptions of structural empowerment to their experiences of workplace bullying and burnout in Canadian hospital work settings using Kanter's work empowerment theory. There are numerous anecdotal reports of bullying of new graduates in healthcare settings, whi...

squires m., tourangeau a., spence laschinger h.k. & doran d. (2010) Journal of Nursing Management 18, 914–925 The link between leadership and safety outcomes in hospitals Aim To test and refine a model examining relationships among leadership, interactional justice, quality of the nursing work environment, safety climate and patient and nurse safet...

wong c.a., laschinger h. & cummings g.g. (2010) Journal of Nursing Management 18, 889–900 Authentic leadership and nurses' voice behaviour and perceptions of care quality Aim The purpose of the present study was to test a theoretical model linking authentic leadership with staff nurses’ trust in their manager, work engagement, voice behaviour and p...

smith l.m., andrusyszyn m.a. & laschinger h. (2010) Journal of Nursing Management 18, 1004–1015 Effects of workplace incivility and empowerment on newly-graduated nurses’ organizational commitment Aim The purpose of the present study was to test an expanded model of Kanter’s theory by examining the influence of structural empowerment, psychological...

To test whether incivility at work exacerbates the relationship between stressors and strain for hospital workers. A climate of incivility and disrespect among colleagues was expected to heighten the impact of work stressors on the mental and physical health of care providers. Members of 17 care-providing units from five hospital systems in Canada...

To determine the relationship between nurses' perceptions of their work environment and quality/risk outcomes for patients and nurses in acute care settings. Nurses are leaving the profession as a result of high levels of job dissatisfaction arising from current working conditions. To gain organizational support for workplace improvements, evidence...

The first research objective was to replicate the finding of Leiter et al. [(2008)Journal of Nursing Management, 16, 100-109.] of Generation X nurses (n=338) reporting higher levels of distress than Baby Boomer nurses (n=139). The second objective was to test whether Generation X nurses reported more negative social environments at work than did Ba...

To examine the role that work relationships have on two long-term care outcomes: job satisfaction and turnover intention. It is easy to overlook the impact that human relations have in shaping work environments that are conducive to organizational effectiveness. Employee job satisfaction and retention are important organizational outcomes. Six hund...

almost j., doran d.m., mcgillis hall l. & spence laschinger h.k. (2010) Journal of Nursing Management 18, 981–992 Antecedents and consequences of intra-group conflict among nurses Aim To test a theoretical model linking selected antecedent variables to intra-group conflict among nurses, and subsequently conflict management style, job stress and job...

Occupational burnout can have serious implications on productivity, nurses'health, service usage, and health care costs. This study examined the effect of burnout on nurses' mental and physical health outcomes and job retention. Randomly selected Canadian nephrology nurses completed surveys consisting of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Pressu...

The notion of a unified nationwide approach to measuring and monitoring healthy work environments is indeed an idea whose time has come, as Lowe and Chan point out in their paper. These authors present a compelling argument for why such an approach is needed and offer a potential framework that could be used to accomplish this goal. Clear articulat...

gilbert s., laschinger h.k.s. &leiter m (2010) Journal of Nursing Management18, 339–348 The mediating effect of burnout on the relationship between structural empowerment and organizational citizenship behaviours Aim We used Kanter’s (1977) structural empowerment theory to examine the influence of structural empowerment and emotional exhaustion on...

Nephrology nurses, like nurses in other areas, are impacted by the stress in their work environment. As recruitment and retention issues become more apparent, research in the area of conditions of work life for nephrology nursing has emerged, as an important area of study. Burnout has been reported as high as one in every three nephrology nurses (F...

Aim: The aim of the present study was to describe the scope and degree of involvement of senior nurse leaders (SNLs) in executive level decisions in acute care organizations across Canada. Background: Significant changes in SNL roles including expansion of decision-making responsibilities have occurred but little is known about the patterns of S...

The purpose of this theoretical paper is to propose an integrated model of nurse/patient empowerment that could be used as a guide for creating high-quality nursing practice work environments that ensure positive outcomes for both nurses and their patients. There are few integrated theoretical approaches to nurse and patient empowerment in the lite...

The future of professional nursing depends on finding ways to create high-quality work environments that retain newcomers to the profession. The purpose of this study was to examine the combined effect of supportive professional practice environments, civil working relationships, and empowerment on new graduates' experiences of burnout at work. The...

We examined the impact of empowering work conditions on nurses' work engagement and effectiveness, and compared differences among these relationships in new graduates and experienced nurses. As many nurses near retirement, every effort is needed to retain nurses and to ensure that work environments are attractive to new nurses. Experience in the pr...

This study tested a theoretical model derived from Kanter's theory of workplace empowerment by surveying a random sample of 300 registered nurses employed in acute care hospitals across the Canadian province of Ontario. The results of this study effectively replicated the findings of a previous exploratory study. Specific nursing practice environme...

The aim of this study was to test a multilevel model linking unit-level leader-member exchange quality and structural empowerment to nurses' psychological empowerment and organizational commitment at the individual level of analysis. Few studies have examined the contextual effects of unit leadership on individual nurse outcomes. Workplace empowerm...

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between staff nurses' structural empowerment, work stress and job satisfaction in two health care settings in Italy using Kanter's Empowerment Theory. With the current scarcity of economic resources and shortage of nurses, it is essential to empower nurses to perform at a high lev...