افزایش هوش هیجانی پرستاران با مداخله کوتاه Increasing nurses’ emotional intelligence with a brief intervention

INCREASING NURSES’ EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Background Emotional intelligence (EI) is generally regarded as adeptness at recognising and managing emotional experiences and responses in self and others and then integrating these to enhance thinking and consequent behaviours (Serrat, 2017). It is associated with good physical and mental health (Martins, Ramalho, & Morin, 2010) and general well-being (Sánchez-Álvarez, Extremera, & Fernández-Berrocal, 2016). EI has long been regarded as an especially valuable attribute for nurses (Cadman & Brewer, 2001) given the emotionally demanding nature of their work (Riley & Weiss, 2016). In nurses higher EI predicts work wellness (Nel, Jonker, & Rabie, 2013), workforce retention (Marvos & Hale, 2015), job satisfaction (Tagoe & Quarshie, 2017), and improved quality of patient care (Adams & Iseler, 2014). This has led many authors to call for an increased focus on EI competencies in recruitment (Jones-Schenk & Harper, 2014), staff development (Taylor, Roberts, Smyth, & Tulloch, 2015), and pre-registration training (Foster et al., 2017; Hurley, 2008; Shahnavazi et al., 2018). Although there is general evidence that EI can be improved with training (Vishakha Patil, 2016), well-designed studies of EI interventions with nursing staff in real world settings are sparse (Codier, Freitas, & Muneno, 2013; Fitzpatrick, 2016). The current study The current study aimed to test whether a single training session on emotionally intelligent behaviours in the workplace together with an additional session of one-on-one coaching would result in increased EI three months post-training. The training workshop and subsequent coaching sessions were prepared and delivered by accredited trainers of the GENOS model of EI. Methods Participants were registered nurses drawn from eight established work units across two geographical sites within one health service in regional New South Wales, Australia. Two work units from each site served as the intervention group with approximately seven nursing staff from each unit participating in the EI workshop and coaching. The remaining two work units from each site comprised the control group. The health service selected the workunits matching them as closely as practicable on size and type; they did not include intensive care units. The study was not blind. Data collection took place in the first half of 2016. Ethical approval was provided by the ethics committees of both the university and the Local Health District.