Emotional Intelligence, Self-Esteem as Indicators of Life Satisfaction among Hospital Workers

Abstract

Generally, most of the studies on life satisfaction have been conducted in populations outside the shores of Afrique Noire. Scholars interested in positive psychology have been studying in practical terms what it takes to attain subjective well-being. Subjective wellbeing in the form of happiness or life satisfaction may be referred to as combination of simple to complex perceptive judgment concerning satisfaction with life, characterized by the frequent experiencing of positive moods and emotion (Schimmack et al., 2004). Life satisfaction was explained using Veenhoven’s (1984) Quality of Life (QOL) Model; emotional Intelligence was discussed with the Model by Salovey. Based on the findings, the study has empirically demonstrated that health workers who perceived an increase sense of emotional intelligence and self-esteem showed higher tendency to demonstrate life satisfaction than their counterparts. The result of this study also showed that all the independent variables (emotional intelligence (?=0.189, p<0.01), and self-esteem (?=0.145, p<0.05) predicted life satisfaction. The researcher recommends that Ministry of Health in Nigeria should take adequate steps to inculcate life satisfying measure that directly increase the emotional and behavioural aspects of health workers’ life to increase the chances of developing and sustaining a viable health service delivery in Nigeria.