Investigation of Factors that influence the Development of Emotional Intelligence in Nurses

Background: Individuals with high emotional intelligence are better able to understand their own feelings, to use them in their thinking processes and understand their importance, and to manage better than others. Aim: The estimation of factors which contribute to the development of emotional intelligence in public hospital nurses. Method: A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 251 nurses working in Greek public hospitals. The questionnaire included 69 questions covering the following seven dimensions of emotional intelligence: “self-consciousness”, “self-adjustment”, “motivations of behaviour”, “social skills”, “awareness of other persons’ emotional state”, “humour”, and “critical thought”. The answers were based on a 4 point Likert scale (not at all – a little – quite enough – a lot). Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences v14.0 (SPSS). Results: Regression analysis showed that age contributes to the development of three dimensions of emotional intelligence, specifically “humour”, “critical thinking” and “behavioural motives”. Working experience contributes to the development of “social skills” and “self-control”. Family contributes to the development of “empathy” and education contributes to the development of “self-consciousness”. Conclusions: The development of emotional intelligence is very important and is influenced by many factors. It provides individuals with the ability to discover their own feelings, to understand their real meanings, and to do some hard thinking about them before making decisions.