Parsons, MatthewMcKelvie, RhondaWilson, Melanie2025-11-062025-11-062025https://hdl.handle.net/10289/17761Background: Contemporary nursing leadership extends beyond traditional hierarchical structures and focusses more on leadership enacted at the point of care. This reconceptualisation recognises clinical nurse leaders as essential change agents who bridge frontline care and organisational priorities, advocate for equitable health services and foster team cohesion in increasingly complex environments, all without holding formal authority. To grow and sustain such leadership requires education and development programmes that are designed to be contextually relevant and responsive to the realities of point of care nurses. Objective: The aim of this research was to explore the design and evaluation of a health leadership development programme for registered nurses delivered at a tertiary hospital. Participants: There were two key population groups: Purposive sampling was employed to recruit an executive nurse leader (n=1) for the initial interview, followed by three focus groups with representatives from executive, operational and designated senior nurse leadership roles (n=13); and the second, pre- and post- intervention surveys with the participants of the education programme (n=12). All intervention participants responded to the survey (response rate = 100%). Methods: This mixed methods study involved an interview and three focus groups, which informed the development of the programme as well as pre-test / post-test online surveys of leadership programme participants. Both the interview and focus groups were thematically analysed using a general inductive method to develop key themes. The initial interview and focus groups were used to design the education intervention, which was evaluated using pre- and post- surveys, which included Likert scale type questions, which were analysed using a Paired Sample T Test. Findings: Thematic analysis of the interview and focus group transcripts revealed five key themes: (i) Leading in real life; (ii) Becoming future ready; (iii) Power, people and perspective; (iv) Owning the journey; and (v) Connection culture. Analysis of the survey data showed statistically significant results in: (i) Current leadership ability - leadership knowledge; (ii) understanding different leadership styles; (iii) Knowledge of leadership skills & attributes for effective health leadership; (iv) Understanding of health leadership in equitable healthcare delivery; (v) Understanding of relationship knowing self, cultural identity and leadership; and (vi) Development of skills for challenging conversations. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that leadership development initiatives for clinical nurse leaders are most effective when built on the acknowledgement of cultural, relational and emotional knowing and intelligence. Programme participants responded positively to this approach showing marked improvements in self-assessed leadership confidence.enAll items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.Clinical nurse leadershipleadership developmentThesis