ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on leadership, an aspect of professional identity in nursing and a study using an Identity Structure Analysis/Match instrument to measure this. There are many challenges facing the nursing profession and a need for leadership that is up to the meeting them – leadership to build quality work environments, implement new models of care and bring health and well-being to an exhausted and stretched nursing workforce. Leadership in its rich variety of types is needed to enhance nurse satisfaction, recruitment, retention and healthy work environments, particularly in this current and worsening nursing shortage. Identification and development of student leadership capacity and efficacy is critical to this process. To this end, the chapter describes the new Nurse Match Leadership psychometric instrument and its use in assessing the personal nursing values and leadership qualities of students at a school of nursing.
