The Relationship Between Leadership Orientations and Learning Styles of Nursing Students

Aim: This research was conducted to determine the relationship between leadership orientations and learning styles of nursing students. Method: The study was a descriptive, and correlational research. The data were obtained from 140 students in the nursing department of an university who were volunteered to participate in the study. Personal Information Form, Leadership Orientation Scale and Kolb’s Learning Styles Inventory were used to collect data.The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics involving numerical values, percentages, mean and standard deviation, and Pearson correlation tests. Results: The nursing students obtained the highest scores in the human resources leadership and the lowest scores in the political leadership domain. It was determined that most of the students had diverger (38.6%) and assimilator (26.4%) type learning styles. A positive, significant and moderate relationship between students’ leadership orientations and learning styles was determined (r> 0.30, p <0.01). Conclusion: Results indicate that in order to prepare nursing students as leaders of the future, during arrangement of nursing training programs all learning styles including the learning styles of students have to be taken into account.