Psychosocial correlates of emotional intelligence among nurses

Abstract

The primary aim of the investigation was to study Emotional intelligence, Job stress, Occupational burnout, Job satisfaction, Work engagement and Organizational commitment among nurses of government and private hospitals. The sample comprised of 200 female nurses (100 nurses from government hospitals and 100 nurses from private hospitals) in the age range of 24-30 years from Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, India. For the purpose of data collection, Emotional Intelligence Scale by Schutte et. al. (1998), Job Stress Scale by Lambert, Hogan, Camp and Ventura (2006), Maslach Burnout Inventory by Maslach, Jackson and Schwab (1996), Generic Job Satisfaction Scale by Macdonald and Maclntyre (1997), Work Engagement Scale by Schaufeli and Bakker (2003), and Organizational Commitment Scale by Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993) were administered. The results revealed that there were significant differences between nurses of government and private hospitals on total score of Emotional intelligence and its one dimension only (i.e. Managing one s own emotions). A total score of Emotional intelligence has been found to be significantly and negatively related with Job stress and Occupational burnout, whereas significantly and positively related with Job satisfaction, Work engagement and Organizational commitment. Therefore, it is imperative that Indian Nursing Council in tandem with State Nursing Council and healthcare organization form a pedagogical and training program for teaching various emotional intelligence skills to nurses to learn to cope well with emotionally laden stressful situations in the hospital and for their overall personal development. newline