Psychological coherence, inclusive leadership and implicit absenteeism in obstetrics and gynecology nurses: a multi-site survey

BACKGROUND: Implicit absenteeism is very common among clinical nurses. We aimed to evaluate the role of psychological coherence in the inclusive leadership and implicit absenteeism among obstetrics and gynecology nurses, to provide evidence to the clinical management of nurses. METHODS: Through the convenience sampling method, a survey of gynecology nurses in tertiary hospitals in 16 cities of Anhui Province, China was conducted using the General Information Questionnaire, the Stanford Implicit Absence Scale, the Inclusive Leadership Scale and the Sense of Coherence Scale. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS 20. RESULTS: A total of 1080 nurses were included with an effective response rate of 93.5%. The average score of nurses' recessive absenteeism in this study was (16.8 ± 0.15). The average of inclusive leadership score was (34.25 ± 7.23). The average score of psychological coherence score of obstetrics and gynecology nurses was (55.79 ± 8.28). Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a relationship between implicit absenteeism behavior, inclusive leadership, and the level of psychological coherence in obstetrics and gynecology nurses (all P < 0.05). Linear regression analysis indicated that psychological coherence played a partial mediating role between inclusive leadership and obstetrics and gynecology nurses' implicit absenteeism (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Obstetrics and gynecology nurses have serious recessive absenteeism with low sense of psychological coherence and inclusive leadership. Nursing managers should improve the psychological coherence through effective interventions, thereby reducing the incidence of implicit absenteeism.