Compassionate leadership in palliative and end-of-life care: a focus group study
ISSN: 1751-1879
Article publication date: 21 March 2019
Issue publication date: 4 April 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore compassionate leadership with those involved in leading system-wide end-of-life care. Its purpose was to: define compassionate leadership in the context of palliative and end-of-life care; collect accounts of compassionate leadership activity from key stakeholders in end-of-life and palliative care; and identify examples of compassionate leadership in practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Four focus groups involving staff from a range of healthcare organisations including hospitals, hospices and community teams were conducted to access the accounts of staff leading palliative and end-of-life care. The data were analysed thematically.
Findings
The themes that emerged from the data included: the importance of leadership as role modelling and nurturing; how stories were used to explain approaches to leading end-of-life care; the nature of leadership as challenging existing practice; and a requirement for leaders to manage boundaries effectively. Rich and detailed examples of leadership in action were shared.
Research limitations/implications
The findings indicate that a relational approach to leadership was enacted in a range of palliative and end-of-life care settings.
Practical implications
Context-specific action learning may be a means of further developing compassionate leadership capability in palliative and end-of-life care and more widely in healthcare settings.
Originality/value
This paper presents data indicating how compassionate leadership, as a form of activity, is envisaged and enacted by staff in healthcare.
Keywords
Citation
Hewison, A., Sawbridge, Y. and Tooley, L. (2019), "Compassionate leadership in palliative and end-of-life care: a focus group study", Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 264-279. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHS-09-2018-0044
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited