Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Aesthetic leadership in nursing constitutes a disruptive conceptual proposal that questions and redefines traditional leadership models within healthcare settings. This article develops an original theoretical framework that incorporates the aesthetic dimension as a structuring category of care, emphasizing the role of beauty, presence, and relational ethics in transforming healthcare delivery. Grounded in ontological, epistemological, ethical, and phenomenological dimensions, aesthetic leadership is framed as a praxis that transcends technical competence and operational management, aiming at transforming the caregiving experience and strengthening authentic bonds between nurses and patients. Based on a critical review of established nursing theories, including those proposed by Jean Watson, Imogene King, Betty Neuman, Madeleine Leininger, Patricia Benner, and Dorothy Johnson, a reconceptualization of leadership is proposed, integrating a holistic vision that articulates ethical, aesthetic, existential, and emotional dimensions in clinical practice. This theoretical model highlights the need to incorporate artistic, expressive, and symbolic resources into caregiving processes, with the purpose of enriching the caregiving experience, preserving human dignity, and promoting meaningful intersubjective relationships. Finally, it is argued that aesthetic leadership represents a pertinent pathway for the rehumanization of care in contemporary clinical contexts, proposing future research directions aimed at evaluating the impact of aesthetic practices on care quality, patient experience, and the professional well-being of nurses.
Source: Nursing Inquiry
DOI: 10.1111/nin.70034
Author: Jesús Tomás Monge Moreno
Institution: Universitat de les Illes Balears
Language: English
Subfield: Research and Theory
Field: Nursing
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,720
OpenAlex ID: W4410747626