Impacts of a relational leadership development programme on psychological sense of community

INTRODUCTION: In a time of increasing employee dissatisfaction and burnout within healthcare, relational leadership approaches hold potential to improve workforce belonging and sense of community. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, single-arm longitudinal study of participants enrolled in the Relational Leadership Institute, a relational leadership programme, to assess impacts on participants' psychological sense of community (PSOC). Participants completed surveys at three time points: baseline, immediately following the programme and 6-month postprogramme. We used a linear mixed-effects model with a random intercept for participant to assess change in PSOC from baseline to immediately postprogramme and 6-month postprogramme. RESULTS: Overall mean PSOC was 4.87 (SD 0.68) at baseline and was higher among non-white participants than among white participants (mean 5.00 vs 4.83, p<0.01), and among trainees than among working professionals (mean 4.96 vs 4.82, p<0.01). In adjusted analyses, mean overall PSOC increased to 5.16 (p<0.001) postprogramme and remained stable at 5.13 6-month postprogramme (p<0.001). Stratified analyses by subdomains demonstrated similar increases in the membership and self subdomains, but no change in the entity subdomain. CONCLUSION: Our programme's positive and durable impact on PSOC across diverse participants suggests that relational leadership programmes can support today's healthcare workforce to achieve better outcomes for healthcare professionals and patients alike.