Leadership and management skills of first-line managers of elderly care and their work environment.
OBJECTIVE
To study the leadership and management skills of first-line managers (FLMs) of elderly care and their work environment in Egypt and Sweden.


BACKGROUND
FLMs in Egypt and Sweden are directly responsible for staff and quality of care. However, FLMs in Sweden, in elderly care, have smaller units/organizations to manage than do their colleagues in Egypt. Furthermore, family care of the elderly has been the norm in Egypt, but in recent years institutional care has increased, whereas in Sweden, residential living homes have existed for a longer period.


METHODS
A convenience sample of FLMs, 49 from Egypt and 49 from Sweden, answered a questionnaire measuring leadership and management skills, structural and psychological empowerment, job satisfaction and psychosomatic health.


RESULTS
In both countries, FLMs' perceptions of their leadership and management skills and psychological empowerment were quite high, whereas scores for job satisfaction and psychosomatic health were lower. FLMs had higher values in several factors/study variables in Egypt compared with in Sweden.


CONCLUSIONS
The work environment, both in Egypt and Sweden, needs to be improved to increase FLMs' job satisfaction and decrease stress. The cultural differences and levels of management have an effect on the differences between the two countries.
Abdelrazek
Fathya
F
Faculty of Nursing, Suez Canal University, Port-Said, Egypt. dr_fathiaabdelrazik@yahoo.com
Skytt
Bernice
B
Aly
Magda
M
El-Sabour
Mona Abd
MA
Ibrahim
Naglaa
N
Engström
Maria
M
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002983:Clinical Competence; D054521:Cultural Competency; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003469:Culture; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009745:Nursing, Supervisory / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012931:Social Environment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden