Emotional intelligence among medical students: a cross sectional study from central Kerala, India

Abstract

Background: The term ‘emotional intelligence’ describes the ability ‘to monitor one's own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate between them and to use the information to guide one's thinking and actions. The significance of emotional intelligence in the successful practice of medicine has long been recognized. The present study intends to assess the level of emotional intelligence among medical students, in Central Kerala and to determine the factors that influence emotional intelligence of medical students.Methods: A quantitative, cross sectional, questionnaire-based study conducted among 251 medical students belonging to two medical colleges in Central Kerala, India using the Schutte self report emotional intelligence test (SSEIT), which is a standardized semi-structured questionnaire. Data was coded and entered in Microsoft excel worksheet. Descriptive statistics like percentage was used. Inferential statistics were applied as needed using licensed version of SPSS 20, and was expressed statistically significant at p-value less than 0.05.Results: Among the total 251 study participants, mean age of the participants were 21.5± 1.14. Majority were females (67.7%). The mean score of EI among the study participants were 121.43±19.06. Out of the total study participants 63.3% had average EI score. The present study showed a statistically significant association between age category of the study participants and EI scores.Conclusions: The mean EI scores of the study participants were in an agreeable range with 63.3% having average EI scores.