Clinical supervisors' views of their leadership role in the clinical supervision process within nursing care

The purpose of this study was to investigate nurse supervisors' views of their supervisory styles, their personal qualities and their leadership role, and the development of these styles. The sample consisted of 18 clinical nurse supervisors. The data were collected by interviews using 15 open-ended questions, and a 10-item questionnaire, and the analysis was a combination of hermeneutical and factor analysis. The analysis revealed two specific styles: the emotional and the cognitive supervisory style. The supervisor's personal qualities were: willingness and preparedness to show understanding, bringing out genuine feelings and 'confirming', the latter being the most important in the nurse supervisors' styles. The supervisors' views of their leadership role showed that high values were given to the following three factors: techniques in providing clinical supervision, responsibility for facilitating process, responsibility for creating a climate conducive to supervision and focusing on the main themes.