title: Assertiveness process of Iranian nurse leaders: a grounded theory study.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the assertiveness process in Iranian nursing leaders. A qualitative design based on the grounded theory approach was used to collect and analyze the assertiveness experiences of 12 nurse managers working in four hospitals in Iran. Purposeful and theoretical sampling methods were employed for the data collection and selection of the participants, and semistructured interviews were held. During the data analysis, 17 categories emerged and these were categorized into three themes: "task generation", "assertiveness behavior", and "executive agents". From the participants' experiences, assertiveness theory emerged as being fundamental to the development of a schematic model describing nursing leadership behaviors. From another aspect, religious beliefs also played a fundamental role in Iranian nursing leadership assertiveness. It was concluded that bringing a change in the current support from top managers and improving self-learning are required in order to enhance the assertiveness of the nursing leaders in Iran.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamhossein
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mahmoudirad
authors.forename: Fazlollah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.forename: Zohreh
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Vanaki
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hajizadeh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001242:Assertiveness; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009718:Nurse Administrators; D015401:Nursing Administration Research; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results