Evaluation of Emotional Intelligence among Master's Degree Students in Nursing and Midwifery: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Emotional intelligence protects nurses against quiet quitting, turnover intention, and job burnout

Background

Emotional intelligence can improve nurses' interpersonal and coping skills, job performance, and resilience. However, there is a dearth in the literature on whether emotional intelligence affects levels of quiet quitting, turnover intention, and job burnout in nurses.

Objective

We examined the relationship between emotional intelligence, quiet quitting, turnover intention, and job burnout.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study in Greece with a convenience sample of 992 nurses. We used the following valid tools to measure our study variables: the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form, the Quiet Quitting Scale, and the single item burnout measure.

Results

The mean age of our nurses was 42.2 years. After controlling for gender, age, work experience, shift work, and understaffed department, the multivariable linear regression models indicated significant negative relationships between emotional intelligence and quiet quitting, turnover intention, and job burnout. Specifically, self-control reduced detachment, lack of motivation, job burnout, and turnover intention. Moreover, emotionality reduced detachment, lack of motivation, and lack of initiative. Sociability reduced lack of initiative and lack of motivation, while well-being reduced lack of motivation, job burnout, and turnover intention.

Conclusion

Emotional intelligence reduced quiet quitting, turnover intention, and job burnout in nurses. Therefore, nurse managers and policy-makers should apply interventions to optimize the emotional intelligence profiles of nurses.

Are emotional intelligence and compassion associated with nursing safety and quality care? A cross-sectional investigation in pediatric settings

PURPOSE

To assess and compare the perceptions of emotional intelligence, compassion, and safety and quality care held by parents of hospitalized children and nurses, and to examine the association between emotional intelligence, compassion, and safety and quality care among nurses.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study comprised 80 parents whose children were hospitalized for at least three days, and 71 nurses who treated these children. The data were collected during April-June 2018 using a self-administered questionnaire addressing socio-demographic characteristics, safety and quality care in the ward, emotional intelligence, and compassion. A hierarchical multiple regression model was used to assess whether emotional intelligence and compassion could be associated with safety and quality care among pediatric nurses.

RESULTS

Parents considered the safety and quality care in the ward to be significantly (p = .003) higher (M = 4.23 ± 0.61) than did nurses (M = 3.97 ± 0.46). Compassion had a significant positive effect on safety and quality of care (β = 0.260; p = .041), while seniority in nursing had a significant negative effect on safety and quality care (β = -0.289;p = .021). Null effect was found between emotional intelligence and safety and quality care.

CONCLUSION

Compassionate care should be targeted to improve the safety and quality of nursing care delivered to children and their parents.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Nurse ward managers should promote procedures and guidelines concerning safety and quality care processes among older nurses. Specifically, we recommend nurse ward managers to leverage the results and dedicate efforts to continue to provide compassionate care in pediatric settings as an integral part of safety and quality care.

Nurses' perceptions of emotional intelligence in the clinical setting: A qualitative systematic review

AIM

The aim of the study is to explore available literature on nurses'/midwives' perceptions of emotional intelligence in the clinical setting.

BACKGROUND

Emotional intelligence is a crucial skill in nursing practice but little is known about nurses' perceptions of it.

EVALUATION

Eight electronic databases (CINAHL, Cochrane, Embase, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science) were searched until November 2020. Quality appraisal was performed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program Checklist. Data analysis was conducted using Sandelowski and Barroso's two-step approach of meta-summary and meta-synthesis.

KEY ISSUES

Five themes emerged from the 17 included studies: (1) understanding emotional intelligence in clinical nursing, (2) nurses' utilization of emotional intelligence, (3) benefits of being an emotionally intelligent nurse, (4) barriers to developing emotional intelligence and (5) recommendations to enhance emotional intelligence.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses expressed interest in enhancing their emotional intelligence, and they identified barriers and provided corresponding recommendations to support their endeavours. Future studies should be geographically distributed and include nurses from all sectors of the profession to amass a holistic and comprehensive conceptual understanding of emotional intelligence.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Policy makers and nursing educators should tactically and successfully integrate emotional intelligence training into the nursing profession and curricula.

The Relationship between Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence as a Protective Factor for Healthcare Professionals: Systematic Review

Emotional intelligence is an essential trait and skill for healthcare professionals. Mindfulness meditation has proved to be effective in increasing the wellbeing of those who practice it, leading to better mental health, self-care and job satisfaction. This paper aims to identify the recent evidence on the relationship between mindfulness and emotional intelligence among healthcare professionals and students. A systematic review was conducted including the databases PubMed, Cinhal, PsycINFO and Web of Science. The main variables were emotional intelligence skills and mindfulness practice. Data were extracted according to the following outcomes: authors, year of publication, country, study design, participants, mindfulness training intervention, tools used in data collection and main results. The following inclusion criteria were applied: peer-reviewed articles; published in English or Spanish; published between 2010 and 2020; quantitative methodology; a study population of healthcare professionals or students; the relationship with the aim of the study. The Joanna Briggs Institute criteria were followed for assessing the methodological quality of the selected studies. Three researchers were involved in the review. After the selection process, 10 studies were selected out of the 197 references initially identified. These studies revealed a positive relationship between mindfulness and emotional intelligence, particularly the capacity to regulate emotions. Furthermore, mindfulness is negatively related to emotional exhaustion. Training interventions based on mindfulness have proved to be useful in promoting emotional balance, emotional awareness, emotional acceptance, emotion recognition, expressive suppression and a reduction in emotional exhaustion. This study could serve as a basis for further research on the benefits of emotional intelligence and practicing mindfulness for the bio-psycho-social welfare of healthcare professionals.