The relationship between emotional intelligence, occupational stress and health in nurses: a questionnaire survey.

BACKGROUND: Nurses suffer from stress and health problems owing to the characteristics of their work and their contact with patients and death. Since emotions can have an effect on work outcomes, emotional intelligence (EI) may explain the individual differences in dealing with work stress.

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the interrelationships among EI, work stress and health. We also examined the impact of socio-demographic variables (e.g. age, gender, length of service,...) on stress and nurses' health.

DESIGN: A questionnaire survey (anonymous) has been carried out to detect these interrelationships.

SETTING: A general public hospital in Spain

PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and eighty nurses.

METHODS: Data was gathered on demographic information and work, stress, health and EI. Beyond descriptive statistics, analyses of variance, mean differences and regression analyses were computed.

RESULTS: Findings show a differential effect of the EI components in stress and health. As far as stress is concerned, the results show that the nurses who score high in clarity and emotional repair report less stress, whereas those with high scores in attention to emotions experience greater levels of stress. Furthermore, we find a positive relationship between age, length of service and stress, with younger nurses and those with a shorter length of service experiencing less stress. However, EI and health are not related to age or to length of service. Also, we find that married nurses report better general health.

CONCLUSIONS: EI is shown for nurses as a protective factor against stress and a facilitative factor for health (especially the Clarity and Repair dimensions). These comments could be especially important in training future professionals in these abilities.