🧠 Journal Summary: Servant Leadership and Spirituality Among Undergraduate

🧠 Journal Summary: Servant Leadership and Spirituality Among Undergraduate and Graduate Nursing Students

Authors: Joyce L. Maglione, Kathleen Neville

Published In: Journal of Religion and Health (2021)

🔍 Study Summary

This study investigated the relationship between servant leadership characteristics and spirituality among undergraduate and graduate nursing students. The primary goal was to determine if and how these two concepts are linked in future nursing professionals, addressing a gap in existing literature that largely focused on workplace settings rather than students.

The researchers aimed to understand if students choosing nursing as a career inherently possess traits aligned with servant leadership and spirituality, which are crucial for effective and compassionate healthcare.

💡 Key Concepts

• Servant Leadership: This leadership style emphasizes that the leader’s primary motivation is to serve others. Servant-leaders prioritize the needs of their followers, empowering them and fostering their growth by sharing knowledge and power. Key characteristics include listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth, and building community.
• Spirituality: Conceptually defined as a belief system acknowledging a Higher Power, contributing to a more meaningful life and individual well-being². In nursing, spirituality is integral to a holistic view of health, recognizing the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental aspects of a patient’s health.

📊 Key Insights

• Nursing students in the study demonstrated relatively high levels of both spirituality and servant leadership.
• A significant positive association was found between overall servant leadership and spirituality scores (r=0.42, p<0.001).
• Servant leadership characteristics generally increased from Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) to Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program students but then decreased among doctoral students. A similar decline was observed in nurses with more than 10 years of practice.
• Spirituality scores increased as students pursued higher degrees, with doctoral students showing the highest scores.
• Spirituality scores for students with no prior healthcare employment were high, declined initially upon entering the workforce, and then continued to increase with more years of experience.
• Among the eight servant leadership subscales, “empowering others” had the highest mean score, while “humility” had the lowest.
• Most servant leadership subscales, with the exception of accountability and communication, showed weak to moderate statistically significant correlations with spirituality.

📘 Example Application

A university nursing program could integrate servant leadership and spirituality into its curriculum, especially for BSN and MSN students. By emphasizing these concepts through specific courses, practical exercises, and mentorship, the program can help cultivate future nurses who are not only clinically competent but also deeply empathetic and service-oriented.

For instance, case studies could focus on scenarios where nurses apply empowering communication or social justice principles in patient care or community health initiatives, while also reflecting on their personal spiritual well-being to prevent burnout and enhance quality of life.

💬 Comment from Dr. Dwi Suryanto

The findings of this study are incredibly insightful for the nursing profession. They suggest that the inherent qualities of servant leadership and spirituality are strong in those pursuing nursing, which is vital for building a compassionate and effective healthcare workforce.

Recognizing how these traits develop (or decline) across different educational levels and years of practice provides crucial information for designing targeted support and training programs. This understanding can help us nurture these essential qualities, ensuring nurses remain dedicated to service and well-being throughout their careers.

📌 Takeaway

Nursing students generally possess high levels of servant leadership and spirituality, and these two qualities are positively linked, highlighting their importance in shaping compassionate and effective future healthcare professionals. Educational programs and ongoing professional development should strategically cultivate these traits to ensure sustained commitment to patient care and personal well-being.