To read this content please select one of the options below:

$40.00 (excl. tax) 30 days to view and download

Compassionate leadership in palliative and end-of-life care: a focus group study

Alistair Hewison, Yvonne Sawbridge, Laura Tooley

Leadership in Health Services

ISSN: 1751-1879

Article publication date: 21 March 2019

Issue publication date: 4 April 2019

2558

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

Related articles