Associations between self-leadership and self-reported execution of infection prevention and control among physicians and nurses

Background: There is poor self-reported (SR) execution of infection prevention and control (IPC) among physicians and nurses. Self-leadership is considered an important factor to enhance IPC SR-execution. This study aims to explore the associations between self-leadership and IPC SR-execution among physicians and nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 26,252 physicians and nurses was conducted in all secondary and tertiary hospitals in Hubei province, China. A questionnaire was designed to measure physicians' and nurses' self-leadership, which includes positive traits and negative traits, and IPC SR-execution, which includes motivation, process, and outcome. Results: Positive traits and negative traits of self-leadership had significant positive associations with SRexecution motivation (fi = .582, P < .001) (fi = .026, P < .001), SR-execution process (fi = .642, P < .001) (fi = .017, P < .001), and SR-execution outcome (fi = .675, P < .001) (fi = .013, P < .001). Conclusions: This study recommends that health care institutions should focus on cultivating positive traits of self-leadership among physicians and nurses. Although negative traits of self-leadership can also promote IPC SR-execution, the association is limited and may lead to risks. (c) 2023 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.