Associations between self-leadership and self-reported execution of infection prevention and control among physicians and nurses

Abstract

Background: There is poor self-reported (SR) execution of infection prevention and control (IPC) among physicians and nurses. Self-leadership is considered an important factor to enhance IPC SR-execution. This study aims to explore the associations between self-leadership and IPC SR-execution among physicians and nurses.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 26,252 physicians and nurses was conducted in all secondary and tertiary hospitals in Hubei province, China. A questionnaire was designed to measure physicians' and nurses' self-leadership, which includes positive traits and negative traits, and IPC SR-execution, which includes motivation, process, and outcome.

Results: Positive traits and negative traits of self-leadership had significant positive associations with SR-execution motivation (β = .582, P < .001) (β = .026, P < .001), SR-execution process (β = .642, P < .001) (β = .017, P < .001), and SR-execution outcome (β = .675, P < .001) (β = .013, P < .001).

Conclusions: This study recommends that health care institutions should focus on cultivating positive traits of self-leadership among physicians and nurses. Although negative traits of self-leadership can also promote IPC SR-execution, the association is limited and may lead to risks.

Keywords: Cross-sectional survey; Hospital-acquired infections; Negative traits of self-leadership; Positive traits of self-leadership; Structural equation model.