ABSTRACT:   A descriptive correlational research design was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between leadership readiness and empowerment among nursing students studying in a selected nursing College at Ernakulam district. The objectives were to determine the level of leadership readiness and empowerment among nursing students and to evaluate the correlation between leadership readiness and empowerment among nursing students. Also, to find association between pre-test leadership readiness score and selected demographic variables and pre – test empowerment score and selected demographic variables.

METHODS  -      The research approach adopted for this study was quantitative type and the research design was descriptive correlational design. This study was conducted among 40 IV Year B.Sc. Nursing students in a selected College at Ernakulam district based on inclusion criteria using consecutive sampling technique. The data for the study was collected by modified standardized tools for leadership readiness and empowerment after obtaining a formal permission from the authors of the tool. The data were analyzed and interpreted by descriptive and inferential statistics.

 RESULTS - Among the demographic variables, majority of the samples 65% (26) belonged to the age of 22 years were females100 % (40) and majority of them belonged to nuclear family 92.5 %(37). 70% (28) of them were from urban area and most 60% (24) of their family income was in the range between Rs.10,000-50,000. In the case of their parents’ educational status both of them 50% (20) respectively had bachelor’s degree. 60% (24) of the samples had previous exposure to educational programmes related to empowerment and leadership and 67.5% of them were interested to become leaders and 92.5%(37) of them had previous experience as a leader.

The leadership readiness score was; only 2.5% (1) belonged to the category of great leader, 5% (6) were good leaders, 10% (4) of the samples belonged to emerging leader category, 22.5% (9) were bursting with potential and 50% (20) of the samples needed growth in their leadership readiness.

The level of empowerment score was, more than 55% (22) of the samples had high level of empowerment, 40% (16) of them had moderate level of empowerment and 5% (2) had low level of empowerment.

The mean value of the samples on leadership readiness was 58.27 and empowerment was 29.6. The standard deviation of leadership readiness was 18.81 and empowerment was 6.96. The Correlation co-efficient ‘r’ between leadership and empowerment was 0.32. Hence there was a moderately positive correlation between leadership readiness and empowerment among the samples. So, the selected hypothesis H1 was accepted and H₀ was rejected.      

There was association between empowerment and leadership readiness with demographic variables such as area of residence (3.84 and 3.84 respectively).

 INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION

The result revealed that it was necessary to empower nursing students by improving their leadership skills. Creating more opportunities to explicit leadership qualities during their student life would enhance their ability to face challenges in future.