Is inclusive leadership linked to less psychological distress among nurses?

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The researchers note that traumatic events such as a pandemic can shatter the assumption that the workplace is safe. Nurses face the risk of life-threatening infection, which can create psychological distress. They argue that the quality of care for infected patients depends on nurses’ mental well-being, making research into predictors of stress among health care workers important.

Responding to calls to study how leadership styles affect psychological distress during traumatic events, the researchers used social exchange theory to examine relationships among inclusive leadership, psychological distress, work engagement, and self-sacrifice. This cross-sectional study included 497 registered nurses from five hospitals in Wuhan. Data were collected with temporal separation through an online questionnaire. The researchers analyzed the data using partial least-squares structural equation modeling.

Inclusive leadership had a significant negative relationship with psychological distress. Work engagement mediated this relationship, and nurses’ self-sacrificial behavior moderated it. The authors suggest that inclusive leadership could serve as a sustainable mechanism for reducing psychological distress during pandemics and could enable real-time delivery of mental health support in workplaces. They say the results provide empirical support for social exchange theory through high work engagement to help control nurses’ psychological distress. The cross-sectional findings show relationships, not proof that leadership caused a reduction in distress.