坂下 玲子

The literature on nursing leadership tends to be mainly based on Western perspectives and models, which could be viewed as an imperialistic and colonialist aspect of nursing knowledge development. Furthermore, leadership competencies and skills could differ across countries due to variations in cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this discussion paper is to identify essential competencies of leaders from Asian nurse leaders’ perspectives and provide suggestions for future nursing leadership. Four themes related to the leadership competencies were identified: “harmony,” “visionary,” “political activism,” and “good character.”

ABSTRACT Background The development of nursing leaders is an important topic in changing healthcare environments. Successful nursing leadership is critical to the reconstruction, implementation, and evaluation of healthcare systems worldwide. However, the characteristics of successful nursing leadership remain unclear, especially in a global context. Furthermore, despite the growing importance of cultural intelligence, cross-cultural concepts of successful nursing leadership have been inadequately addressed in the literature. Purpose This study was designed to identify the characteristics of successful leadership in nursing from the perspective of Asian leaders in four countries (United States, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan) and to make recommendations for successful leadership in nursing in the future. Methods A qualitative approach employing five strategies, including in-depth discussions through face-to-face and email discussions, an integrated literature review using multiple databases, responses to 10 topics related to nursing leadership, and written note summaries of the characteristics of successful leadership, was used in this study. A total of 10 nursing leaders from four countries were recruited as participants using snowball sampling. The collected qualitative data were analyzed using line-by-line coding and simple content analysis to extract the characteristics of successful leadership in nursing. Results The final sample included seven nursing leaders aged between 55 and 70 years. All of the participants were in nursing leadership positions at schools/colleges of nursing or professional organizations for at least two decades and had extensive leadership experience through their schools/colleges, professional organizations, and/or governments. Five key themes related to the characteristics of successful leadership were identified from the participants: (a) culturally and historically prescribed, (b) overcoming gendered experience, (c) equipped with good character, (d) guiding with a vision, and (e) with contextualized leadership. Conclusions/Implications for Practice Five characteristics of successful leadership were identified from the perspective of Asian nursing leaders. All of the participants recommended that successful nursing leadership be based on contextual leadership and that successful nursing leadership help meet rapidly changing needs, enable mutual trust, and actively commit and complete necessary risks. Moreover, future successful leadership should have a clear vision and strongly guide the implementation of changes as well as be equipped with cultural intelligence. Finally, successful nursing leadership should be based on ethical, trustable, and humane behaviors while promptly and adequately responding to the changing needs of their institutions/organizations. Cross-regional research on successful nursing leadership is essential to enrich the global evidence and knowledge on developing the next generation of nursing leaders.

The raison d’être of nursing is caring for human beings. Mainly due to its close link to the nursing discipline’s raison d’être, “caring,” translational science is recently getting more attention from nursing scientists across the globe. This paper is to discuss the current status of translational science in nursing across four countries (the USA, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan). The data used in this discussion paper included: (a) written notes on issues related translational research/science in individual countries; (b) written memos on exemplars/cases from their own experiences; and (c) summaries of literature reviews. The data analysis was conducted using a simple content analysis. Four themes reflecting the current status of translational science across the countries were identified: (a) “contextualized in unique culture and history of nursing”; (b) “connecting basic science to clinical practice”; (c) “an extension of evidence-based practice”; and (d) “highly promoted, but still minimal translation of nursing knowledge.”

The process by which stroke survivors move toward health while facing various difficulties can be construed as a "transition." Importantly, nurses need to understand and support this state of transition effectively. This study developed a situation-specific theory to explain post-stroke transition by integrating the findings of a qualitative study that explored the rehabilitation experiences of stroke survivors with dysphagia with a scoping review of qualitative studies using the theoretical framework of transition theory. This theory will help understand the transitions that stroke survivors with dysphagia undergo during recovery and provide a framework for exploring nursing care to support healthy transitions.