Authors: Chang Angelna, Yung Wei Lai, Swee Geok Lim
ABSTRACT
Background: Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as the comprehension, use and the management of one’s emotions in a positive manner to reduce stress, communicate efficiently, empathise with others, overcome challenges, and resolve conflicts. EI is important among nurses as it influences their decision making abilities, clinical judgment, and well-being that directly affect the quality of patient care and outcome.
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the EI level and its association with demographic variables among nurses in a private hospital in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study involving 130 nurses at one of the private hospitals in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, through simple random sampling. Questionnaire consists of Part A (demographic data) and Part B (Wong and Law’s Emotional Intelligence scale (WLEIS), self-assessment tool that consists of 16 items on four components inclusive of self-emotions appraisal (SEA), regulation of emotion (ROE), use of emotion (UOE), and other’s emotion appraisal (OEA) on a set of 7-Likert scale).
Results: Findings showed that 63.1% (n = 82) scored high EI. Nurses’ age and years of nursing experience are significantly associated with their level of EI. No association is found on the nurses’ level of EI with their gender, ethnicity, highest nursing education level, marital status, and current work setting. The null hypothesis was rejected.
Conclusion: Findings showed that most of the nurses have high EI. There is a significant association between the level of EI and demographic variables such as age and years of nursing experience.
Citation: IEJSME 2020 14 (3): 30-44
