Emotional Intelligence among Various Levels of Nursing Students

Abstract

Introduction: Emotional Intelligence skills help nurses to stay focussed on their job under
immense pressure of work in the challenging hospital environment. It reduces work-related
stress, improve job-performance and enhance effective leadership. Objective: To compare the
emotional intelligence of three levels of under-graduate nursing students. Methodology: This
cross-sectional study was carried out at National Institute of Nursing Education (NINE),
PGIMER, Chandigarh. A total of 216 students including 79 B.Sc. Nursing 1st year, 65 B.Sc.
Nursing 2nd year and 72 B.Sc. Nursing 3rd year were enrolled in the study. The data was
collected using self-administered Dr. Ekta Sharma’s emotional intelligence test (EIT).Ethical
aspects were given due considerations. Results: Majority of the nursing students irrespective
of the year of professional education performed average on EIT. Even under different domains
of EIT such as ‘self-awareness, managing emotions, motivating oneself, empathy and handling
relationships’ the performance was found to be average. Further, the mean EIT score
obtained by second year students was highest, but was lowest among the first year students,
however the difference was statistically non-significant. There was also no statistically
significant association of EIT score with the demographic variables. Conclusion and
Recommendations: The nursing students lack in the ability to perceive, assess and manage
their own and patients’ emotions in varying degrees across different grades. Thus, periodical
conduction of programs to enhance emotional intelligence skills of nursing students is
required to enable them to meet psychological and spiritual needs of the patients while taking
care of their physical and physiological needs in complex situations.