Leadership Styles and Delegation Practices of Head Nurses as Perceived by Senior Staff Nurses at a Hospital in Bangladesh

<b>Background:</b> Effective leadership and delegation are essential in nursing management to improve patient care outcomes. However, there is limited research on the relationship between leadership styles and delegation practices in the South Asian context. <b>Objective:</b> To examine the relationship between leadership styles and delegation practices of head nurses as perceived by senior staff nurses at a hospital in Bangladesh. <b>Methods:</b> A descriptive correlational design was used with 112 senior staff nurses at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Data were collected using the Delegation Questionnaire and the MLQ 5X-short (Cronbach's α > 0.78). Pearson's correlation assessed relationships between leadership styles and delegation. <b>Results:</b> Most head nurses were perceived as practicing transformational leadership (mean = 25.17), followed by transactional (12.97) and laissez-faire (5.66). Delegation was rated as "sometimes" by 59.8% of the respondents, with significant positive correlations between delegation and transactional leadership (<i>r</i> = 0.321, <i>p</i> < 0.01) and weaker positive correlations with transformational leadership (<i>r</i> = 0.206, <i>p</i> < 0.05). <b>Conclusion:</b> Transformational leadership was most common, but correlations with delegation were weak to moderate, indicating statistical but limited practical significance. Findings provide baseline evidence for leadership training and policy development in nursing leadership in Bangladesh.