Emotional Intelligence in undergraduate nursing students

Emotional Intelligence in undergraduate nursing students

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant facts and figures related to emotional Intelligence in undergraduate nursing students. Whether a nurse is newly entering a health or social care profession, or is perhaps an experienced practitioner, being good at what they do will require more than having academic knowledge about the field of work. The nursing students will frequently be called upon to simultaneously foster positive patient experiences of receiving high quality care, while also coping with the multiple stressors, practical dilemmas and emotional demands that are part and parcel of helping others. Modern expectations of health or social care practitioners are that nursing students have the capacity to develop the skills, intrapersonal capabilities and interpersonal capabilities to respond to such demands. These skills and capabilities can be organized into any number of frameworks such as 'specialist capabilities'; a hierarchal model such as 'beginner and 'advanced' capabilities', or as outlined in this book: as skills and capabilities that are about being emotionally intelligent. Through exploring emotionally intelligent capabilities during nursing education, the undergraduate nursing students are expected to make more aware of effective ways to respond to the challenges on personal and professional levels (Pérez, 2007). In this paper, the author will examine the impact of Emotional Intelligence in nursing education.

Discussion & Analysis

Emotional intelligence is presented as an alternative form of intelligence, in direct contrast to verbal intelligence. Although verbal intelligence focuses on using language, reasoning, and problem solving, emotional intelligence refers to the ability to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions (Mayer, 2008).

There are actually two distinct approaches to emotional intelligence. The first, based on the original conceptualization, is termed the abilities model. This model views emotional intelligence as composed of four sets of skills: (1) managing emotions to attain specific goals, (2) understanding emotions, (3) using emotions to facilitate thinking, and (4) perceiving and interpreting emotions accurately in oneself and others. Early work by Salovey, Mayer, and their colleagues focused on substantiating emotional intelligence as a true form of intelligence in the same sense as verbal/academic intelligence. The abilities model is assessed through performance-based tests, the most recent version of which is the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) (Guleryuz, 2008).

The second approach to emotional intelligence is termed the mixed model and includes elements of emotional skill/competence; related personality characteristics, such as empathy, self-esteem, optimism, stress tolerance/hardiness; and elements of interpersonal skill, such as assertiveness. Measurement of the mixed model of emotional intelligence is typically done through self-report instruments that are similar to traditional personality tests (Freudenthaler, 2008).

An alternative approach to emotional intelligence is to focus simply on the emotional skill components that underlie a portion of the broader construct of emotional intelligence. Mayer (2008) introduced an interactive, process model of leader and follower emotional interaction that is based on research in nonverbal and emotional communication skills dating back to emphasis on skill in nonverbal ...