title: Leadership and management in mental health nursing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mental health nurses are agents of change, and their leadership, management role and characteristics exist at many levels in health care. Previous research presents a picture of mental health nurses as subordinate and passive recipients of the leader's influence and regard leadership and management as distinct from the nurses' practical work.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to provide a synthesis of the studies conducted and to discuss the relationship between nursing leadership and nursing management in the context of mental health nursing.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature search was conducted using EBSCO-host, Academic Search Premier, Science Direct, CINAHL and PubMed for the period January 1995-July 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Leadership and management in the context of mental health nursing are human activities that imply entering into mutual relationships.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mental health nurses' leadership, management and transformational leadership are positively related in terms of effectiveness and nurses' skills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is important to consider mental health nurses' management as a form of leadership similar to or as a natural consequence of transformational leadership (TL) and that ethical concerns must be constantly prioritized throughout every level of the organization.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Women's, Family and Child Health, Vestfold University College, Tønsberg, University of Stavanger, Norway. nina.blegen@hive.no
authors.forename: Nina Elisabeth
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Blegen
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Severinsson
mesh_terms: D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009664:Norway; D009745:Nursing, Supervisory; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011582:Psychological Theory