The self-perception of leadership by Brazilian dietitians

Abstract

The dietitian needs to develop leadership as an essential competence for professional practice as a health professional. Different areas of activity in which this professional is inserted require this ability to provide a high-quality service, which improves patient /client satisfaction and reduces organizations' costs. The objective was to investigate the self-perception of the leadership style exerted by Brazilian dietitians. It is an exploratory cross-sectional with an online application of the Management Style Self-Assessment Scale (MSSA) validated in this study, composed of the factors: Task, Relationship, and Situational. Two hundred fifty-two dietitians in Brazil participated in the research evaluating their leadership. Information data was also collected on socio-demographic characteristics and the participant's relations with leadership training. The exploratory analysis procedures, confirmation of the scale factors, calculations of the factors' average scores, regression model tests, normality tests, and analyzes of descriptive nature were performed. The results revealed the low contact with the leadership theme by Brazilian dietitians. Despite little knowledge on the subject, the respondents believe that their performance as leaders has about 80% success. Furthermore, the participants' comments reveal the need for training and courses on leadership for dietitians and the lack of approach to this topic during the undergraduate course in nutrition.