NURSES’ COACHING LEADERSHIP RELATED TO PRACTICE ENVIRONMENT WITHIN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

Objective: to correlate the nurses’ self-perception and the perception of nursing aides regarding coaching leadership and the practice environment within Primary Health Care. Method: cross-sectional and correlational study addressing 150 nursing workers: 75 nurses and 75 nursing aides of 13 Basic Health Units located in the south of São Paulo, SP, Brazil. The Brazilian version of the Practice Environment Scale, Questionário de Autopercepção do Enfermeiro no Exercício da Liderança [Questionnaire on Self-Perception of Nurses of Exercise of Leadership], and Questionário de Percepção de Técnicos e Auxiliares de Enfermagem no Exercício da Liderança [Questionnaire on Perception of Nurse Technicians and LPNs of Exercise of Leadership] were applied between January and May 2019. Univariate and Multivariate Analyses, and the Pearson’s Correlation test (p<0.05) were used, besides Rosenthal effect size. Results: two significant correlations were found among the nurses between the instruments’ domains: communication and nursing foundations for quality care (r=0.265; p=0.022) and communication and collegial nurse-physician relationships (r=0.263; p=0.023). The following stand out among the nursing aides: communication and nursing foundations for quality care (r=0.416) and the total score obtained in the Questionnaire on Perception of Nurse Technicians and LPNs of Exercise of Leadership and collegial nurse-physician relationships (r=0.409). Conclusion: for the nurses, communication contributed to a better perception of quality care and good relationships with physicians. For the nursing aides, all the domains of coaching leadership collaborate for environments that favor their practice within PHC.