<p> The future of nursing education and the education of the next generation of professional nurses must be empowered through the expertise of qualified nurse educators and administrators in nursing programs across the country. Organizational leaders in higher education organizations must incorporate structural empowerment strategies to address the future nurse leaders in the midst of an extreme deficiency of qualified nurse faculty members to lead nursing education and the lack of effective structural empowerment models required within the context of nursing education programs. Changes in nursing education and the academic environment have the impending challenge of safeguarding and developing future nurse leaders for the upcoming nursing profession. The problem addressed in this study was the perspective of nursing educators concerning structural empowerment programs to enhance leadership skills was unknown. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to address the lack of structural empowerment strategies in many nursing programs from the perspective of nursing faculty and administrators regarding what constitutes full structural empowerment. The unit of analysis was nursing programs in state funded academic organizations of higher education. The participants of the study included full-time nursing faculty members and nurse administrators in two nursing programs located in the Mountain West region of the United States. Semi-structured interviews of nurse faculty and nurse administrators were conducted to gather data about their perceptions of structural empowerment strategies that exist in these academic organizations and how these strategies constrain or enhance their leadership practices. The data collected were analyzed into themes and patterns. The findings revealed 12 themes pertaining to the achievement of structural empowerment. Nursing faculty members and administrators have access to empowerment through different processes and structures within the organization. Nurse faculty perceived a desire for greater autonomy with accountability in the classroom and more inclusion in decision making. Nurse administrators suggested constant review of policies and that the organizational structure was a powerful tool in influencing leadership potential. Further research is needed to expand the sample population, provide quantitative evidence on the impact of structural empowerment strategies on faculty motivation, and obtain the views of students on how these strategies impact learning.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3708831 |
| Date | 28 July 2015 |
| Creators | Damask-Bembenek, Betty |
| Publisher | Northcentral University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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