Emotional Intelligence and resilience in mental health professionals caring for patients with serious mental illness

The relationship between emotional intelligence, resilience, and psychological distress among nurses in Jordan

BACKGROUND

Nurses have significant levels of depression, anxiety, and stress as a result of their exposure to various stressors at work. Emotional intelligence and resilience are relatively new notions essential for nurses to naturalize high levels of psychological problems. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and resilience and their impact on depression, anxiety, and stress among nurses.

METHODS

A cross-sectional descriptive design was used and recruited 152 nurses from three private hospitals in Jordan. Variables were measured using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, Brief Resilience Scale, and Brief Emotional Intelligence Scale.

RESULTS

The participants' average age was 27.6 years, and they were mostly female (66.4 %). Resilience earned an average of 3.1, while emotional intelligence averaged 31.7. Depression, anxiety, and stress were all significantly higher among nurses. Also, negative relationships were found between emotional intelligence, resilience, and psychological problems (p < .001). Emotional intelligence is positively associated with resilience (r = 0.83, p < .001). In addition, emotional intelligence and resilience were both significant predictors of depression, anxiety, and stress.

CONCLUSION

Emotional intelligence is critical to nurses' well-being. Higher emotional intelligence is associated with higher resilience and lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among nurses. Interventions and education programs emphasizing emotional intelligence and resilience are essential to improving their mental health. Healthcare organizations and governments should promote these attributes to enhance nurses' psychological wellness in challenging healthcare settings.

Emotional Intelligence in Intensive Clinical Experiences for Nursing Students

ABSTRACT

This study looked for associations between measures of emotional intelligence in an intensive clinical experience for nursing students in their final semester of an associate degree program. Twenty nursing students from a technical college in the Midwest volunteered to complete the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) before and after an intensive clinical experience. The results were mixed with a significant decrease in several specific scores within the MSCEIT on the Time Point 2 test. Stress levels or fatigue could have impacted participants' decreased performance on the MSCEIT.

Emotional Intelligence and Resilience Outcomes in Adolescent Period, is Knowledge Really Strength?

Adolescence is possibly the most difficult period of life, because it is the beginning of a series of changes in both the internal and external aspects of the body. For this reason, we all have a series of psychological mechanisms, resilience and emotional intelligence, which allow us to adapt to these periods of change. In this way, the present study aims to analyse through a systematic review the results obtained in different studies to better understand the current situation. The methodology used in the systematic review was PRISMA, covering a period of the last 10 years. The results obtained show that the selected studies show a strong relationship between resilience and emotional intelligence when there are adequate levels of resilience and emotional intelligence. Therefore, it is necessary for young people to develop a series of internal mechanisms that act as protectors against the vicissitudes they may face in their lives, allowing them to fully adapt to the demands of the context.

Variables Impacting the Quality of Care Provided by Professional Caregivers for People with Mental Illness: A Systematic Review

People with mental illness may need the support of caregivers in certain areas of their lives, and there is an increasing need for quality care for people with mental health problems by qualified health professionals. Often, these professionals may develop so-called burnout syndrome, although some authors point out that positive emotions may also arise. In addition, several variables can act as both protectors and stressors. Therefore, the main aim of the current study is to identify variables related to the professional care of people with mental illness (i.e., protective or stressor variables) through a systematic review. The review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines with a final selection of 20 articles found in the Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Dialnet databases between the months of October and November 2019, and updated in June 2022. The results show that job satisfaction is a strong predictor of the quality of care, and that congruence between personal and organizational values is a very important factor. Meanwhile, working in the same job for successive years, working in community mental health teams and experiencing burnout act as stressors and reduce the quality of care provided.

A systematic review into healthcare professionals' attitudes towards self-harm in children and young people and its impact on care provision

Self-harming behaviours in children and young people are an alarming reality, with provision of effective treatment historically compromised. The present systematic literature review highlights attitudes displayed by healthcare professionals towards this health problem, providing valuable insight by analysing how these attitudes can impact patient care. Ten studies were included, allowing creation of a narrative synthesis of qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods evidence. Six themes emerged: negativity, positivity, worry or fear, the emotional impact of working with these patients, professional roles and ward-dependent concerns. Overall, professional negativity towards this patient group, in the form of apprehensiveness, was accentuated by fear of worsening their symptoms. The attitude aforementioned impacts on treatment by hindering creation of meaningful therapeutic relationships. Educational opportunities that increase healthcare professionals' knowledge of self-harm have the potential to provide invaluable power by promoting positive attitudes.

Promoting resilience and lower stress in nurses and improving inpatient experience through emotional intelligence training in China: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Emotional intelligence training relieves stress and promotes resilience among nurses. Previous studies have not sufficiently explored the effect of emotional intelligence training among nurses on the experience of inpatients under their care.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the effects of emotional intelligence training on emotional intelligence, resilience, and perceived stress among nurses and examine how training affects inpatient experience.

DESIGN

Randomized controlled trial.

SETTING

A tertiary general hospital in Changsha, China.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 103 nurses were randomly selected from 20 wards.

METHODS

The wards were randomized into two groups. The intervention group (n = 53 nurses) received emotional intelligence training in two phases: Phase I-system training phase, twice a week for one month; Phase II-a consolidated learning phase, once a week for 11 months. The control group (n = 50) received daily briefings in meetings between head nurses, which were held regularly to discuss specific problems. There was no emotional intelligence training conducted with the control group. Data were collected at baseline and after the intervention.

RESULTS

Emotional intelligence training improved emotional intelligence, resilience, and stress in the intervention group. The control group scored lower on the Wong and Law's Emotional Intelligence Scale and all subscales, showed stability in the scores on the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and its subscales, and very little change in stress scores. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed significantly greater beneficial changes in the intervention group on all but the optimism subscale. There were suggestive differences in the predicted direction between the emotional intelligence training wards and the control wards at post-test on the patient experience scale and the four subscales.

CONCLUSION

Our study suggests that emotional intelligence training improves emotional intelligence, resilience, and stress among nurses and leads to improvements in inpatient experience. Emotional intelligence training should be part of nurse education to improve the quality of care nurses provide and their ability to work without increased stress.

Does Emotional Intelligence Increase Satisfaction with Life during COVID-19? The Mediating Role of Depression

COVID-19 has spread rapidly and become a health crisis around the world, and negatively affected the mental state of individuals. Emotional intelligence (EI) can play an important role in coping with the mental problems experienced due to the pandemic. This study examined how individuals' emotional intelligence levels affect depression and satisfaction with life during the COVID-19 period. The study was designed as quantitative and cross-sectional and reached 578 adult participants online. Emotional intelligence trait scale-short form, depression subscale (DASS-21), satisfaction with life scale, and sociodemographic questions as control variables were used as data collection tools in the study. The data obtained were conducted using SPSS 24, PROCESS-Macro, and Amos 25 statistical programs. The hypotheses established were tested by correlation, multiple regression, mediating, and moderating analyzes. Results confirmed that emotional intelligence had a positive association with satisfaction with life and a negative association with depression. In addition, interaction analyses found that age and family type had a moderating effect on satisfaction with life, and depression had a mediating effect. After discussing the importance of emotional intelligence as a coping mechanism in dealing with problems, some suggestions were made to policymakers and practitioners.

Renal nurses' experiences of patients with severe mental health conditions receiving acute haemodialysis: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Patients receiving acute haemodialysis treatment and living with severe mental illness may display behaviours that are perceived as challenging and stressful for renal nurses to manage in the acute haemodialysis unit. Renal nurses are historically trained on the technical aspects of acute haemodialysis and can provide a level of psychological support to patients. However, they have not been trained to manage patients with severe mental illness.

OBJECTIVE

To explore renal nurses' experiences of nursing patients with severe mental illness receiving acute haemodialysis, and to identify factors that facilitate or hinder the nursing care of these patients.

DESIGN

A descriptive qualitative study.

METHOD

Purposive sampling was employed, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 renal nurses working in an acute haemodialysis unit. Thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data.

FINDINGS

Thematic analysis identified four main themes which are perspectives of mental Illness, patient and staff safety concerns, facilitators of care and education and support needs.

CONCLUSION

Renal nurses experienced difficulty managing challenging behaviours manifested by patients with severe mental illness. Despite the various challenges, renal nurses adopted a person-centred approach. Staff shortages and lack of training were significant hindrances to care delivery. Education on mental health conditions, support from senior staff and collaborative working can enable confidence and increase renal nurses' knowledge and experience in mental health care.

Changes in emotional intelligence of university students participating in psychological workshops and their predictors

The aim of this study was to determine changes in the emotional intelligence of university students who participated in psychological workshops and their predictors. The examinations were organized within a quasi-experimental design that evaluated pretest-posttest values of emotional intelligence. The intervention, which adopted the form of psychological workshops, was aimed to improve the ability to control emotional states, modify cognitive patterns and expand the array of communicational behaviours. The study examined 30 university students of a physical education course aged 19 to 24 years. The study used the Popular Questionnaire of Emotional Intelligence, the Social Competence Questionnaire, the General Health Questionnaire and the Courtauld Emotional Scale. Significant increases in emotional intelligence were observed in students participating in the psychological workshops, although varied depending on its dimensions. The highest differentiation between the measurements was found for understanding of emotions, whereas the lowest - for empathy. Greater increases in emotional intelligence can be expected in young students, who are more willing to suppress depression and reveal lower social competencies and greater intensification of depression symptoms. Psychological workshops can be an effective method to improve emotional intelligence of university students who prepare to the profession of a physical education teacher or a coach.

Do Trait Emotional Intelligence and Dispositional Mindfulness Have a Complementary Effect on the Children's and Adolescents' Emotional States?

Mindfulness is both a non-judgmental and present-centered awareness, which has been applied to reduce negative emotions. On the other hand, Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEI) is the way of how good people perceive their emotional intelligence abilities (perceiving, expressing, understanding, and regulating emotions), which are involved in people's social functioning. This empirical study was designed to analyze whether dispositional mindfulness (DM) and TEI have a potential combined role for children and adolescent's emotional states. In a sample of primary school students (N = 318), age ranged from 8 to 16 years old (M = 11.25, SD = 2.20), participants filled a TEI measure (ESCQ, Emotional skills and competence questionnaire) and two measures of DM (CAMM, Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure and AFQ-Y, Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth). Measures selected included: PANAS (Positive affect and negative affect schedule), White Bear Suppression Inventory (a thought suppression inventory), and STAIC (State-Trait Anxiety for Children). Findings pointed out that TEI measures (labeling and expression, understanding, and managing emotions) were positively and significantly related to positive emotional states (especially, positive affect and balance) and negatively with a lower association with state anxiety. However, DM measures were both negatively and strongly associated with negative emotional states (thought suppression, negative affect, and anxiety). Conclusions indicate that a combined effect of both TEI skills and DM based interventions would be more complete than each one separately for better social functioning of children and teenagers.

Emotion Regulation Ability and Resilience in a Sample of Adolescents from a Suburban Area

Earlier research has identified a remarkable number of related factors to resilience during adolescence. Historically, theoretical treatments of resilience have been focused almost exclusively on psychosocial levels of analysis to derive explanatory models. However, there is insufficient understanding of the role of emotion regulation explaining competent functioning despite the experience of adversity (resilience), especially during adolescence. This study explores the relationship between both, emotional regulation abilities and strategies, and resilience in a sample of adolescents from suburbs high-schools (Jerez de la Frontera, Spain). The study also examines how using different emotional regulation strategies may help the development of resilience levels at this stage. Participants of the study were 164 adolescents ranging from 13 to 16 years old (M = 13.98; SD = 0.66). Emotion regulation was measured using the Cognitive Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ, Garnefski et al., 2001), and sections D and H of Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, a performance test (Emotion Regulation Ability sections, MSCEIT, Spanish version, Mayer et al., 2003). Resilience was evaluated with ERE (Educative Resilience Scale for children and adolescents, Saavedra and Castro, 2009). Verbal Intelligence (Yuste, 1997) and personality traits (Cattell and Cattell, 1986) were assessed as two independent variables. Results supported the idea that emotion regulation ability (MSCEIT, D and H sections, Extremera et al., 2006) is a significant predictor of adolescents' resilience. Moreover, cognitive regulation strategies, such as positive reappraisal, predicted perceived resilience among students. Sociability (A factor of HSPQ, sociability) also correlated with resilience levels. Hence, these results are promising, implying that emotion regulation ability may act as a helpful tool preventing adolescents from irrational risky behaviors, commonly assumed at this developmental stage.