Leadership Dynamics and Well-Being of Hospital Staff in Health Crisis Contexts in Greece

The present study takes place in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Greek economic crisis, in which the health systems reached their limit and the physical and psychological exhaustion of professionals increased, testing supportive leadership in hospitals. An ex post facto, descriptive, and correlational study was designed, with non-probabilistic sampling, applied to 741 health professionals from public and private hospitals located in Attica and Piraeus. An 18-item ad hoc questionnaire was used, validated through an exploratory factor analysis (KMO = 0.805; 4 dimensions) and with a high reliability (α = 0.87). The staff showed a moderately positive assessment of the leadership and the supervisor dynamics, but a low enjoyment of work during the crisis. The hypothesis of generalized stress was discarded, with differences found according to gender (more conflict and less recognition perceived by women) and age (more conflicts between the supervisors and younger staff), without important differences according to level of education or work position. It can be concluded that support, psychological capital, and work relations, appeared as relatively independent constructs, modulated by organizational and personal factors, which underlines the need for specific interventions oriented towards the well-being and recognition of health professionals in contexts of crisis.