Compassionate Leadership e Coordinatore infermieristico e ostetrico. Un’indagine trasversale in un’ azienda sanitaria veneta

Background: Compassionate Leadership, conceptualised by West and Chowla (2017) through the processes of attending, understanding, empathising and helping, has been associated with enhanced staff well-being, psychological safety and quality of care. Although international evidence is growing, research on the topic within the Italian healthcare context remains limited. Aim: To explore the perception of Compassionate Leadership within a Local Health Authority (ULSS) in the Veneto Region by comparing nurse and midwife leaders’ self-assessments with healthcare staff perceptions, to identify organisational barriers and facilitators influencing its implementation, and to adapt and validate the “Measuring Compassionate Leadership Scale” for use in the Italian healthcare context. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between July and September 2025 among all eligible professionals in the organisation using an anonymous online questionnaire (REDCap). The survey included the Measuring Compassionate Leadership Scale (West & Chowla, 2017), items on organisational barriers and facilitators, and sociodemographic variables. Data quality checks were applied, and descriptive, inferential and psychometric analyses including scale reliability and confirmatory factor analysis. Results: A total of 368 valid responses were analysed (320 staff; 48 leaders). The scale demonstrated excellent reliability (α = .96–.98) and good construct validity. Leaders reported consistently higher scores across all four dimensions of the scale (Mean = 4.40; SD = 0.66) compared with staff (Mean = 3.65; SD = 1.17), indicating a marked perception gap particularly in the attending and helping dimensions. The most frequently reported organisational barriers included workload, time pressure, role ambiguity and limited leadership training. Conclusions: Compassionate Leadership is present within the organisation but is perceived differently by leaders and staff. The observed gap suggests challenges in translating compassionate intentions into consistently observable behaviours, particularly under structural and workload pressures. Targeted training, reflective spaces and organisational reengineering strategies may strengthen the sustainability and impact of Compassionate Leadership in clinical settings.