A Study on the Correlation of Self-Efficacy, Emotional Intelligence and Interpersonal Skills in Nurses’ Nursing Practice of the Elderly in Communities

Abstract

Objectives: This study was conducted to identify the effect that the self-efficacy and emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills of nurses at geriatric hospitals have on their practice of geriatric care. Methods/Statistical Analysis: A questionnaire was distributed to 165 nurses working at 9 geriatric hospitals located in city D and regions C and K regions with 200 or more hospital beds. Data was collected from September 15 to December 31, 2014. Using IBM SPSS/WIN 20.0 program, frequency, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficients and Multiple regression were analyzed. Findings: Results showed that the practice of geriatric care of nurses at geriatric care had a positive correlation with self-efficacy (r = .47, p<.001), emotional intelligence (r = .56, p<.001) and interpersonal skills (r = .39, p<.001) and the factors that had the most significant effect on the degree of practice, in descending order were emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and age. Explanatory power was 32.4%. Applications/Improvements: With an aging society and a rapid increase in the number of geriatric hospitals, continued studies are recommended to identify predictive factors for geriatric nursing practice in order to realize higher quality geriatric care. Development of programs to improve self-efficacy and emotional intelligence that can, in turn, enhance geriatric nursing practice, is recommended. The age of subjects was identified as a factor affecting geriatric nursing practice. Therefore, measures to draw nurses who have temporarily retired and are reluctant to re-enter the work force back in the field should be developed. Therefore, in order to increase the level of practice, development and application of programs that can enhance emotional intelligence and self-efficacy are needed.