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

Fabiana Cassano,Claudia Mellucci,Patrizia Laurenti,Caterina Galletti,Andrea Tamburrano,Gianfranco Damiani

doi:10.3390/ijerph17176347

Abstract

Emotional intelligence is an important skill for nurses and midwives and leads them to cleverly work in various fields and contexts, successfully handling colleagues, patients and their families. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to evaluate the relationship between emotional intelligence, sociodemographic and academic variables in current and former master’s degree students in nursing and midwifery, through the administration of a questionnaire to 71 subjects. Emotional intelligence is significantly related to gender. Females showed higher scores (0.2 points higher than men) for emotional intelligence factors, highlighting an excellent ability to “evaluate and express emotions in relation to others”. Moreover, significant differences in academic performances are shown: both females and midwives demonstrated higher academic performance (a mean degree mark 3.8 points higher than men and a mean degree mark 2.6 point than nurses, respectively). High levels of emotional intelligence in individuals who carried out training activities in the organization area are also evident: These subjects have an ability regarding the “regulation of emotion in the others”, which is significantly higher (p = 0.01) than those interested in other master’s degree areas. Emotional intelligence (EI) is strongly linked to the individual’s characteristics and their personalities and differs from technical and professional skills. EI is also an excellent predictor of professional success.

Highlights

The discovery of emotional intelligence has generated increasing interest during the past decade.Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined by Salovey and Mayer [1] as “the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action”
Snowden et al [16] reported that EI increases with age and has a greater representation among women
The aim of the current study is to evaluate the relationship between EI, sociodemographic and academic variables, in current and former nurses’ and midwives’ students, and to discuss the value of EI as a predictor of professional success

Summary

Introduction

Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined by Salovey and Mayer [1] as “the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action”. According to Goleman, this is an essential skill for the emotional life, relationships, work and social activities of most, if not all, people [2]. Competency in understanding one’s own and others’ emotions consists of knowing the causes and consequences of different emotions as well as being able to differentiate between varying emotions. Good EI levels allow to harness emotions to guide cognitive activities and solve problems, for example, by drawing on positive moods to enhance creative thoughts. Managing one’s own and others’ emotions consists of elaborating emotions, heading situations and achieving individual goals

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion