Emotional Intelligence Abilities in Oncology and Palliative Care:

Understanding and Managing Emotional Intelligence for Nursing Students: A Classroom Innovation

BACKGROUND

Nursing students are bombarded with multiple stressors. Understanding emotional intelligence (EI) and implementing EI strategies in school can help students learn more effective emotional skills. The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Four-Branch Ability Model of EI defines EI as an ability to perceive, use, understand, and manage one's own, as well as others' emotions.

METHOD

The goal was to increase junior baccalaureate nursing students' knowledge about EI, provide information about their EI scores, and teach students EI strategies. Two instruments were used to provide students' feedback on their EI score.

RESULTS

Students were active participants in this educational innovation on EI knowledge and were able to verbalize what they learned about EI and how they planned to implement EI strategies in their nursing practice.

CONCLUSION

Integration of EI competencies in nursing education programs could help future nurses cope and manage stressors associated with their job, as well as increase nurse retention and job satisfaction. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(X):XXX-XXX.].

The Emotional Intelligence, Occupational Stress, and Coping Characteristics by Years of Nursing Experiences of Newly Hired Oncology Nurses

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the study was to compare and analyze the emotional intelligence, occupational stress, and coping characteristics of three groups of newly hired oncology nurses.

METHODS

Data for this secondary analysis were collected from a larger study of 114 newly hired nurses at a cancer center in the Northeastern United States. Survey data were collected using the EQi-2.0™, the Nursing Stress Scale, and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Dimensions of study measures were analyzed based on new graduates, 1-5 years, and >5 years of nursing experience. Analysis of variance was conducted among the three groups followed by Tukey pairwise comparisons analysis when P = 0.05.

RESULTS

New graduates scored significantly lower on the self-expression dimension (mean = 96.88; standard deviation [SD] = 13.27) than nurses with >5 years nursing experience (mean = 106.12; SD 15.02) (P = 0.04), and the subdimension, assertiveness (mean = 94.73; SD = 13.87) compared to nurses with >5-year nursing experience (mean = 103.94; SD = 14.86) (P = 0.03). Significantly higher sources of stress for new graduates were death and dying (mean = 16.45; SD = 3.37), and for the associations between the three nursing groups (P = 0.001). New graduate nurses used the problem-focused coping strategy of accepting responsibility (mean = 14.06; SD = 7.28) significantly (P = 0.006) more often than nurses with >5-year experience (mean = 8.54; SD = 4.25), and planful problem solving (mean = 16.76; SD = 5.27) significantly less often (P =.001) than nurses with 1-5-year experiences (mean = 20.12; SD = 7.31).

CONCLUSIONS

Dimension scores highlight the characteristics of nurses with varying levels of nursing experience onboarding at the same time. Findings may inform model-development for improving nurse-recruitment practices and retention strategies.

Reliability and Validity Testing of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form to Predict Nurses' Job Satisfaction

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Assessing factors related to nurses' job satisfaction may help to address nursing shortages and high turnover rates. Job satisfaction is complicated and may be related to several issues, including trait emotional intelligence. This study examined the reliability and validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF) in a sample of nurses working in the United Arab Emirates, and tested its ability to predict job satisfaction.

METHODS

The TEIQue-SF was tested against its original long form and as a predictor of the Nurse Satisfaction Scale.

RESULTS

The TEIQue-SF showed acceptable reliability at factor and global levels and a medium positive correlation with job satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

The TEIQue-SF showed acceptable validity and reliability.

A multilevel analysis of the impact of group organisational citizenship behaviour on nurse-patient relationship: The mediating effect of work engagement and the moderating effect of emotional intelligence

AIM

To explore the cross-level relationships between group organisational citizenship behaviour, emotional intelligence, work engagement and nurse-patient relationship.

BACKGROUND

Group-level factors influencing nurse-patient relationship are seldom studied.

METHOD

A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 1,246 nurses from 55 nursing groups in a 3A hospital in China, and the data were analysed by multilevel analysis.

RESULTS

Group organisational citizenship behaviour is positively related to nurse-patient relationship with work engagement as a mediator. Emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between group organisational citizenship behaviour and nurse-patient relationship. Specifically, high emotional intelligence reduces the positive impact of group organisational citizenship behaviour on nurse-patient relationship.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides new insights into the influencing factors of nurse-patient relationship based on the social information processing theory. In groups with high group organisational citizenship, positive work engagement and emotional intelligence, nurses are more likely to deliver better performance in patient care, leading to better nurse-patient relationships.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

This study suggests that influencing factors at both group and individual levels should be considered while establishing nurse-patient relationships. A positive group climate and personal ability development significantly improve patient care quality.

The Emotional Labor of Personal Grief in Palliative Care: Balancing Caring and Professional Identities

The paid provision of care for dying persons and their families blends commodified emotion work and attachments to two often-conflicting role identities: the caring person and the professional. We explore how health care employees interpret personal grief related to patient death, drawing on interviews with 12 health care aides and 13 nurses. Data were analyzed collaboratively using an interpretively embedded thematic coding approach and constant comparison. Participant accounts of preventing, postponing, suppressing, and coping with grief revealed implicit meanings about the nature of grief and the appropriateness of grief display. Employees often struggled to find the time and space to deal with grief, and faced normative constraints on grief expression at work. Findings illustrate the complex ways health care employees negotiate and maintain both caring and professional identities in the context of cultural and material constraints. Implications of emotional labor for discourse and practice in health care settings are discussed.

Exploring an Emotional Intelligence Model With Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses

BACKGROUND

A lack of emotional skills may affect a nurse's personal well-being and have negative effects on patient outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

To compare psychiatric-mental health nurses' (PMHN) scores on the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) to a normed population and compare the emotional intelligence (EI) scores of PMHNs using two tools, MSCEIT and Self-Rated Emotional Intelligence Scale (SREIS).

DESIGN

Comparative descriptive and correlational study.

RESULTS

PMHNs in the study had a higher mean EI compared with that of 5,000 participants in the normed MSCEIT sample. Significant weak correlations were seen between the perceiving and understanding emotion branches of the MSCEIT and SREIS.

CONCLUSION

The current study added data about a sample of PMHN's EI levels in the United States, which may encourage dialog about EI among PMHNs. Future research is needed to examine the relationship between self-report EI tools (e.g., SREIS) and performance tools (e.g., MSCEIT) to determine if they are measuring the same construct.

The emotional intelligence of registered nurses commencing critical care nursing

Background

Critical care is described as complex, detailed healthcare in a unique, technologically rich environment. Critical care nursing requires a strong knowledge base and exceptional clinical and technological skills to cope in this demanding environment. Many registered nurses (RNs) commencing work in these areas may lack resilience, and because of the stress of the critical care environment, coping mechanisms need to be developed. To prevent burnout and to enable critical care nurses to function holistically, emotional intelligence (EI) is essential in the development of such coping mechanisms.

Objective

The aim of this study was to describe the EI of RNs commencing work in critical care units in a private hospital group in Gauteng, South Africa.

Method

The design used for this study was a quantitative descriptive survey. The target population were RNs commencing work in critical care units. Data were collected from RNs using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire – Short Form and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software.

Results

The sample (n = 30) had a mean age of 32 years. Most of the participants (63%) qualified through the completion of a bridging course between 2010 and 2012. The majority (62%) of the sample had less than 2 years’ experience as RNs.

Conclusion

The EI of RNs commencing work in a critical care environment was indicative of a higher range of Global EI, with the well-being factor scoring the highest, followed by the emotionality factor, then self-control, with the sociability factor scoring the lowest.

Palliative Care: Delivering Comprehensive Oncology Nursing Care

OBJECTIVES

To describe palliative care as part of comprehensive oncology nursing care.

DATA SOURCES

A review of the palliative care, oncology, and nursing literature over the past 10 years.

CONCLUSION

Palliative care is mandated as part of comprehensive cancer care. A cancer diagnosis often results in distress in the physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and emotional domains of care. Oncology nurses are essential in providing palliative care from diagnosis to death to patients with cancer. They address the myriad aspects of cancer. With palliative care skills and knowledge, oncology nurses can provide quality cancer care. There are many opportunities in which oncology nurses can promote palliative care.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE

Oncology nurses must obtain knowledge and skills in primary palliative care to provide comprehensive cancer care.