Emotional Intelligence among Nurses working in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Kerala, South India
1Assistant Manager – Training, SBN Techno Logics Pvt Ltd., Kochi, Kerala, India.
2Asst Professor, RAK Medical and Health Sciences University, Al Juwais - Al Qusaidat, PO Box 11172, Ras Al Khimah, UAE.
3Assistant Professor, Jubileee Mission Collge of Nursing, Thrissur, Kerala, India.
*Corresponding Author Email: raviramya11@gmail.com
The nursing profession is labor intensive and nurses needs to regulate their emotions for the sake of their patients, their families and health care team member’s needs. The aim of the present study was to determine the level of emotional intelligence among nurses working in a selected tertiary care private hospital. A quantitative cross-sectional survey method, data was collected using a self-reported-questionnaires developed by Schutte from 717 registered nurses working in a tertiary care private hospital. A convnininece sampling technique was used to recruit the study participants. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 24. The mean age of participants was 31.26±4.86 years; 93.4% (670) were females and 6.6% (47) were males. The total EI score ranged from 46 to 155 with a mean of 127.2311±10.1. Out of all, only 12% of the participants had above average, 3.5% had less than average and the remaining 84% had moderate levels of levels of EI levels. A statistically significant relationship was found between emotional intelligence and type of educational qualification and the total years of professional experience in the current area of work at 0.01 level. The moderate level of EI among majority of the participants revealed in the present study necessitates the need for conscious effort, education and training to improve the EI levels among nurses.
KEYWORDS: Emotional Intelligence, Nurses, self-efficacy, hospital service, health care Quality.
Health care organizations have to survive in an environment characterized by the ongoing developments in organizations, a relentless drive providing safe and effective care at the lowest cost as per patient need, new technologies, increased expectations from patients and their families, liability concerns, increased pressures for efficiency, and emphasize for tightly controlled budgets in the workplace.
Some of the problems associated with these changes are job insecurity, increased stress, making the health care more error prone, the loss of competent employees and increased workload.
The concept of emotional intelligence (EI) has grown in popularity among health care workers including nurses over the last two decades1. Emotional intelligence is a series of non-cognitive, competent, and skills that affect the ability of individuals to successfully respond to environmental needs and pressures2. It includes four aspects: the ability to accurately perceive, assess, and express emotions; the ability to promote thinking using emotion; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate and manage emotions3.
Studies have also related a relationship between emotional intelligence with a positive patient outcome4, retention, job satisfaction5, and engagement6, interpersonal relationship and communication7, leadership8 among nurses, and service quality9. Furthermore, EI is also linked with problem-solving skills, stress and mental health with regards to nurses, as these concepts have the potential to deteriorate practitioners10. These are also evidences that prove that emotional and social intelligence contributes as a key career advancement factor for employees today.
The above evidences suggests that EI is a vital element on which human resource professionals and organizations must be focused. The researchers consider that it is important to explore the EI of nurses so that appropriate measures can be taken to address areas of low EI so as to equip them to work in this challenging environment.
The present descriptive cross-sectional survey conducted between May 2020 and November 2020 in a tertiary private hospital situated in Thrissur district, Kerala, South India. A convenience sampling method was used to select the study participants. Registered nurses who aged less than 60 years, available during the data collection period, having at least 6 six months of work experience in the current hospital, were included in the study. Those who were not available during the data collection period and unwilling to participate were excluded from the study. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a total of 750 nurses who were selected based on convenient sampling technique. Out of which 717 nurses completed the entire survey, with a response rate of 95.6%.
Data was collected on sociodemographic variables, and Emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence was measured using standardized self-reported questionnaires developed by Schutte. It is a self-administered five-point Likert scale containing 33-items. The total EI score ranges from 33 to 165, which is the sum of all responses in this scale. Scores below 110 are usually considered lower than average EI and scores higher than 138 are usually considered above average EI11.
The study protocol as approved by the Institutional research Committee and Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of Jubilee Mission medical College and Research Institute, Thrissur. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before starting the study. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis. All these analyses were performed using IBM SPSS V.24.0
The mean age of participants was 31.26 ± 4.86 years; 93.4% (670) were females and 6.6% (47) were males. Most of the subjects were married (90.1%, 647) and first level staff nurses (94.4%, 677). It was found that 64.9%
(465) had a diploma in Nursing and Midwifery while 26.8% (322) were graduate nurses. The duration of total professional experience and experience in the current unit was 7.521±4.2707 and 4.411±3.5932 respectively. The highest mean was found to be 4.35±.729 for the item ‘I expect good things to happen.’ Only one item had a mean score of less than 3. The lowest mean was 2.41±
1.016 for the item 28 ‘When I am faced with a challenge, I give up because I believe I will fail.’
Table 1: Mean and standard deviation of
individual items of emotional intelligence scale.
|
SL No |
Items |
Mean |
SD |
|
1. |
I know when to speak about my personal problems to others |
4.22 |
0.697 |
|
2. |
When I am faced with obstacles, I remember times I faced similar obstacles and overcame them |
4.12 |
0.523 |
|
3. |
I expect that I will do well on most things I try |
4.17 |
0.657 |
|
4. |
Other people find it easy to confide in me |
3.77 |
0.745 |
|
5. |
I find it hard to understand the non- verbal messages of other people* |
3.08 |
1.012 |
|
6. |
Some of the major events of my life have led me to re-evaluate what is important and not important |
4.09 |
0.705 |
|
7. |
When my mood changes, I see new possibilities |
3.55 |
0.798 |
|
8. |
Emotions are one of the things that make my life worth living |
3.89 |
0.818 |
|
9. |
I am aware of my emotions as I experience them |
4.16 |
0.625 |
|
10. |
I expect good things to happen |
4.35 |
0.729 |
|
11. |
I like to share my emotions with others |
3.58 |
0.937 |
|
12. |
When I experience a positive emotion, I know how to make it last |
3.99 |
0.699 |
|
13. |
I arrange events others enjoy |
3.87 |
0.836 |
|
14. |
I seek out activities that make me happy |
3.96 |
0.762 |
|
15. |
I am aware of the non-verbal messages I send to others |
3.92 |
0.710 |
|
16. |
I present myself in a way that makes a good impression on others |
4.10 |
0.669 |
|
17. |
When I am in a positive mood, solving problems is easy for me |
4.30 |
0.681 |
|
18. |
By looking at their facial expressions, I recognize the emotions people are experiencing |
4.07 |
0.721 |
|
19. |
I know why my emotions change |
3.97 |
0.765 |
|
20. |
When I am in a positive mood, I am able to come up with new ideas |
4.08 |
0.690 |
|
21. |
I have control over my emotions |
3.82 |
0.876 |
|
22. |
I easily recognize my emotions as I experience them |
4.01 |
0.615 |
|
23. |
I motivate myself by imagining a good outcome to tasks I take on |
4.14 |
0.674 |
|
24. |
I compliment others when they have done something well |
4.16 |
0.788 |
|
25. |
I am aware of the non-verbal messages other people send |
3.70 |
0.745 |
|
26. |
When another person tells me about an important event in his or her life, I almost feel as though I have experienced this event myself |
3.74 |
0.706 |
|
27. |
When I feel a change in emotions, I tend to come up with new ideas |
3.60 |
.849 |
|
28. |
When I am faced with a challenge, I give up because I believe I will fail |
2.41 |
1.016 |
|
29. |
I know what other people are feeling just by looking at them |
3.37 |
0.883 |
|
30. |
I help other people feel better when they are down |
4.04 |
0.675 |
|
31. |
I use good moods to help myself keep trying in the face of obstacles |
3.90 |
0.675 |
|
32. |
I can tell how people are feeling by listening to the tone of their voice |
3.91 |
0.654 |
|
33. |
It is difficult for me to understand why people feel the way they do* |
3.26 |
0.886 |
The total EI score ranged from 46 to 155 with a mean of 127.2311±10.1. Out of all, only 12% of the participants had above average, 3.5% had less than average and the remaining 84% had moderate levels of levels of EI levels. The dimension wise details of the emotional intelligence scores are given in Table 2.
Srinivasan K et al in a study among nurses working in private hospitals, India found that only 48 percentage of the participants had high level of overall Emotional Intelligence whereas 52 percentage of the participants had low level of overall level of Emotional Intelligence. In contrast to this, a higher level of global EI was reported by Nagel Y et al among nurses working in critical care units in a private hospital in Gauteng, South Africa12.
Dimensions Possible Range Observed Range Mean ± SD Median Perception of Emotion 1 15-48 37.43 ± 3.571 38 Managing Own Emotions 1 9-42 34.86 ±3.257 35 Managing Others’ Emotions 1 13-39 31.47±3.123 32 Utilization of Emotion 1 9-30 23.50±2.599 24
Table 2: Possible range, observed
range, mean and standard deviation of emotional intelligence dimensions
professional experience in the current area of work (p=.003) and emotional intelligence score at 0.01 level of significance.
A statistically significant difference between the married and unmarried respondents with respect to the emotional intelligence was reported by Rohini V among nurses working in a private hospital, south India13. While Tomar R et al reported a statistically significant relationship between emotional intelligence and the type of hospital (government and private) and length of service14.
Table 3: Mean and standard deviation of emotional intelligence related to the demographic variables
|
Variable |
Category |
Mean± SD |
P – Value |
|
Gender |
Male |
129.1702±7.83 |
.173 |
|
Female |
127.0945±11.82 |
||
|
Marital status |
Single |
127.5846±9.69 |
.199 |
|
Married |
127.18±10.14 |
||
|
Widow |
117.00±.00 |
||
|
Unspecific |
141.00±.00 |
||
|
Educational level |
Bsc Nursing |
125.04±12.50 |
.002* |
|
Post Basic (bsc) nursing |
127.40±9.58 |
||
|
Diploma |
128.12±8.86 |
||
|
Job position |
In charge |
127.43±11.34 |
.121 |
|
Team leader |
127.91±7.99 |
||
|
Staff nurse |
127.07±10.10 |
||
|
Others |
136.25±7.57 |
||
|
Current Area of working/service |
ICU |
127.44±11.34 |
.121 |
|
Specialty unit/Ward |
127.91±7.99 |
||
|
General unit/Ward |
127.07±10.10 |
||
|
Rotating |
136.25±7.57 |
||
|
OT |
135.67±9.23 |
||
|
Others |
127.00±.00 |
* Significant at.01 level
The represent study revealed only moderate level of EI among majority of the participants. EI and its associated competencies can be learned and developed with training
The results of the analysis done to understand the relationship between emotional intelligence and sociodemographic variables are given in Table 3. A statistically significant relationship was found between emotional intelligence and type of educational qualification at 0.01 level. The post hoc analysis revealed that the mean difference in the emotional intelligence found to be statistically significant (p= 0.001) when diploma nurses were compared with graduate nurses(BSc Nursing). Also, there was also a positive correlation between the total years of
and conscious effort15. It will enable nurses to make better decisions, manage their patients more effectively, improve relationships, and positively impacts the quality of care received by patients and families16.
No Conflict of interest is declared
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Received on 17.04.2021 Modified on 14.05.2021
Accepted on 29.05.2021 ©A&V Publications All right reserved
Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2021; 11(4):451-454.
DOI: 10.52711/2349-2996.2021.00109