Implementing the Practice of Caring Leadership in a Senior Living Home Care Setting

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to implement a four-week educational practicum focused on the practice of caring leadership in a senior living home care setting and determine how this approach impacted the therapeutic interactions and leadership competencies of home care team members.

METHODOLOGY
The setting for this study were six senior living home care communities, all owned by the same management company, located across four moderate-sized cities in a Midwest state of the United States, and the sample consisted of all team members employed at any one of the six senior living home care settings who were eligible to participate in this study as caring leadership is inclusive and not limited to a single position, level, or organizational structure. Twenty-seven successfully completed the pre-surveys and 15 the post-surveys, consisting of the Leadership Practices Inventory and the Caring Assessment for Caregivers (CACG) measure (Steele-Moses, Koloroutis, and Ydarraga, 2011).

KEY FINDINGS
The total means for the LPI and CACG increased from pre- to post-intervention, and there were significant positive changes in all five leadership practices.

The author concludes:
Consistent with theory, caring leadership as a practical model of development that intentionally focuses on the intrinsic motivations rather than on the extrinsic sources of the person can be useful regardless of professional role or organizational structure (Kouzes & Posner, 2012; Swanson, 1993). The interaction between intrinsic and extrinsic factors may determine whether a provider’s practice behaviors are either relationship-focused or more task- oriented (Malloch, Sluyter, & Moore, 2000; Manojlovich, 2005; Stuart, Jarvis, & Daniel, 2008). A caring leader practicum, an experiential learning approach, was feasible and effective for home care team members. However research suggests that a supportive professional environment, in addition to the educational practicum, is essential to sustain caring leader behaviors in the health care setting (Dewar & Cook, 2014; Pipe et al., 2009; Westen et al., 2002). Caring leadership interventions can positively impact the professional and relational expertise of health care providers, cultivating and liberating their potential to be caring leaders (p. 27).