Background Nursing leadership competencies are essential to address evolving healthcare system challenges, including changes in disease patterns, workforce shortages, and technological advances. Nursing trainees have increasingly diverse migration and socioeconomic backgrounds; however, evidence remains limited on their perceptions of the leadership competencies and attributes needed for future workplaces. Aims This study aims to explore nurse trainees' perceptions of the leadership competencies and personal attributes needed to address healthcare system challenges, and to examine how these perceptions are associated with General Self-efficacy, leadership aspiration, immigration and socioeconomic backgrounds. Methods A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among final-year nursing trainees in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Data were collected in German using previously published questionnaires and additional study-specific single-item questions. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, including factor analysis, were performed. Results A total of 142 final-year nurse trainees participated. Participants were predominantly female, and 57% reported being born in Germany. Factor analysis of leadership competencies and personal attributes indicated a two-factor structure: Adaptive Clinical Decision-Making and Staff Engagement & Development. Particularly highly rated competencies and attributes included leaders' ability to adopt alternative perspectives, create a work environment that promotes knowledge sharing, foster clear communication, and support professional development. Higher General Self-efficacy was associated with higher ratings of the leadership competencies considered necessary in navigating healthcare system challenges. Participants with an immigration background reported higher General Self-efficacy and greater interest in taking on future leadership positions. Discussion Nurse trainees from diverse backgrounds appeared to share a broadly similar understanding of nursing leadership, particularly valuing the fostering of supportive work environments and professional growth. Their perceptions broadly corresponded with current understandings of nursing leadership. Although the findings are tentative, nurse trainees with an immigration background reported higher General Self-efficacy and leadership aspirations, which could benefit a diverse future nursing workforce.
Background Advanced practice nurses (APNs) increasingly work autonomously in complex and evolving healthcare environments, drawing on advanced clinical expertise, leadership, evidence translation and system-level decision-making. While contemporary competency-based education provides an important framework for developing and assessing professional competence, a capability approach offers a complementary educational approach to postgraduate APN education that can foster adaptability, critical reflection, self-directed learning and professional agency, Contemporary issue While contemporary literature recognises capability as essential to the APN role, less is known about the educational conditions through which capability can be developed. This requires attention not only to the outcomes expected of advanced practice nurses, but also to pedagogical frameworks through which capability may be fostered. Discussion This paper examines capability as a framework for APN education and considers how it can be developed through learner agency, authentic experiential learning, critical reflection and appropriate academic scaffolding. Student-led Individually Created Courses (SLICCs) are proposed as a practical mechanism for operationalising capability-orientated education within postgraduate nursing curricula. By enabling nurses to identify learning priorities, negotiate learning outcomes, engage with authentic practice challenges and critically reflect on their development, SLICCs may help foster the judgement, autonomy and lifelong learning required for advanced practice. However, the application of SLICCs in postgraduate nursing education remains unexplored. Conclusion SLICCs provide a promising mechanism for translating a capability approach into educational practice, although further research is required to evaluate their contribution to capability development and advanced nursing practice.
Background Weight bias is a persistent and growing problem in healthcare settings, including among nurses and nursing students. Despite its documented impact on the quality of care, the evidence on interventions targeting this group remains fragmented and insufficiently synthesised. Objectives To identify and analyse interventions aimed at reducing weight bias among nurses and nursing students in both educational and professional settings, describe their key features, examine their theoretical and pedagogical frameworks, examine reported outcomes, and identify gaps to guide future intervention design. Design Scoping review following JBI guidelines and reported according to PRISMA-ScR. Methods Studies were eligible if they included nurses or nursing students, described an evaluated intervention aimed at reducing weight bias, and were conducted in educational or clinical settings. Data were extracted using a standardised tool and synthesised descriptively by intervention type, theoretical framework and outcome measures. Studies published between January 2015 and December 2025 were included. Databases searched: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus and Web of Science, supplemented with grey literature and backward citation searching. Results Eighteen studies were included. The majority were conducted in the USA (89%) and in academic settings (89%), predominantly with undergraduate nursing students. Multimodal interventions that combined increased knowledge and evoking empathy were the most common. Simulation-based approaches were present in 39% of the studies. Ten studies (56%) reported an explicit theoretical framework. Eight studies (44%) reported improvements in main outcomes. Short-term improvements in explicit bias were the most consistent outcome, whereas implicit bias was assessed in only four studies and long-term evidence remains limited. Conclusions The reduction of weight bias in nursing is a growing field with a plurality of conceptual and methodological approaches. Integrated curricular approaches are needed, combining critical reflection, relational experience and reflection on contributing frameworks and practices, alongside engagement of both educational and clinical settings.
