Emotional Intelligence among Various Levels of Nursing Students

Ruchi Saini; Gitanshu Jroria; Aditi Justa; Kritika Arora; Sandeep Chatha; Navneet Kaur Atwal; Tanya Singh; Sukhpal Kaur

doi:10.37591/jonsp.v10i2.2020

Abstract

Introduction: Emotional Intelligence skills help nurses to stay focussed on their job underimmense pressure of work in the challenging hospital environment. It reduces work-relatedstress, improve job-performance and enhance effective leadership. Objective: To compare theemotional intelligence of three levels of under-graduate nursing students. Methodology: Thiscross-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 wascollected using self-administered Dr. Ekta Sharma’s emotional intelligence test (EIT).Ethicalaspects were given due considerations. Results: Majority of the nursing students irrespectiveof the year of professional education performed average on EIT. Even under different domainsof EIT such as ‘self-awareness, managing emotions, motivating oneself, empathy and handlingrelationships’ the performance was found to be average. Further, the mean EIT scoreobtained 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 statisticallysignificant association of EIT score with the demographic variables. Conclusion andRecommendations: The nursing students lack in the ability to perceive, assess and managetheir own and patients’ emotions in varying degrees across different grades. Thus, periodicalconduction of programs to enhance emotional intelligence skills of nursing students isrequired to enable them to meet psychological and spiritual needs of the patients while takingcare of their physical and physiological needs in complex situations.