The significance of nursing home managers' leadership-longitudinal changes, characteristics and qualifications for perceived leadership, person-centredness and climate

Aims and objectives The aim was to explore changes in nursing home managers' leadership, person-centred care and psychosocial climate comparing matched units in a five-year follow-up and to explore the significance of managers' educational qualifications and the ownership of nursing homes for perceived leadership, person-centred care and psychosocial climate in the follow-up data. Background Leadership has been described as crucial for person-centred care and psychosocial climate even though longitudinal data are lacking. The significance of managerial leadership, its characteristics, managerial qualifications and ownership of nursing homes for perceived leadership, person-centred care and psychosocial climate also needs further exploration. Design Repeated cross-sectional study. Methods This study used valid and reliable measures of leadership, person-centred care, psychosocial climate and demographic variables collected from managers and staff n = 3605 in 2014 and n = 2985 in 2019. Descriptive and regression analyses were used. The STROBE checklist was used in reporting this study. Results Leadership was still positively significantly associated to person-centred care in a five-year follow-up, but no changes in strength were seen. Leadership was still positively significantly associated with psychosocial climate, with stronger associations at follow-up. Six leadership characteristics increased over time. It was also shown that a targeted education for nursing home managers was positively associated with person-centred care. Conclusions Leadership is still pivotal for person-centred care and psychosocial climate. Knowledge of nursing home managers' leadership, characteristics and educational qualifications of significance for person-centred delivery provides important insights when striving to improve such services. Relevance to clinical practice The findings can be used for management and clinical practice development initiatives because it was shown that nursing home managers' leadership is vital to person-centred care practices and improves the climate for both staff and residents in these environments.