Developing Nursing Leadership Potential Through Education in a Low-Resource Setting.

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Nursing Education
• Leadership Development

Background:

• Global partnerships are crucial for building nursing leadership capacity in resource-limited settings through education.
• Targeted educational initiatives can empower nursing professionals in low-resource countries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine a nursing faculty partnership between US and Haitian universities.
• To assess the impact of graduate-level nursing education on leadership and education competencies for Haitian faculty.
• To document the establishment of the first Master of Nursing degree program in Haiti.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal qualitative research design.
• Data collection through interviews and observations with 28 participants.
• Recurrent cross-sectional analysis to identify themes and changes in leadership behaviors.

Main Results:

• Key themes included advanced professional stature, leadership in nursing education and clinical practice, transformational leadership, and identified challenges.
• Graduate nursing education fostered an improved vision of nursing and increased perceptions of leadership capabilities.
• Participants demonstrated advanced management strategies post-education.

Conclusions:

• The partnership successfully led to the establishment of an Office of Nursing Education at the State University of Haiti.
• This represents a significant milestone in advancing nursing within a low-resource country.
• The initiative demonstrated the effectiveness of international collaboration in strengthening nursing education and leadership.