Thirty years of emotional intelligence: A scoping review of emotional intelligence training programme among nurses

• Published in: International journal of mental health nursing Vol. 33; no. 1; pp. 37 - 51
• Main Authors: Saikia, Monalisa, George, Linu Sara, Unnikrishnan, Bhaskaran, Nayak, Baby S., Ravishankar, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.02.2024
• Subjects: Coping strategies; Emotional Intelligence; emotional well‐being; Emotions; evidence synthesis; Health care; Humans; Job performance; Leadership; Mental Health; mental health interventions; Nurses; Nurses - psychology; Nursing care; occupational health; Occupational stress; Patients; Professional training; Psychiatric-mental health nursing; Psychological resources; Resilience; Resilience, Psychological; staff nurse; Staff nurses; Stressful environment; systematic review; training programme; training programme; mental health; mental health interventions; emotional well-being; staff nurse; emotional intelligence; evidence synthesis; systematic review; occupational health
• ISSN: 1445-8330; 1447-0349
• DOI: 10.1111/inm.13235

The stressful environment of any healthcare setting can be detrimental to nurses' mental and emotional health. In recent years, emotional intelligence (EI) has emerged as a vital psychological resource that positively impacts mental and emotional health and improves organizational functioning and success. This scoping review aimed to collate, synthesize and outline the research conducted on EI training programmes among nurses to assess their effectiveness in improving staff nurses' EI. Electronic databases of MEDLINE via PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Cochrane, ProQuest, Embase and Web of Science were comprehensively searched for related studies published between 1990 and 2021 (updated in May 2022). Two investigators independently screened the s of the retrieved studies against the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Out of 728 initially retrieved studies, only 7 were included in the final synthesis. The PRISMA‐ScR (2018) checklist was used to report the study findings. All the studies included in the review reported a significant improvement in nurses' EI after a training programme. The results also indicate that EI interventions are an effective way to improve nurses' psychological resources (improve resilience and coping skills; reduce anxiety and stress), leadership qualities, job performance and patient experience of nursing care. As nurses are exposed to a wide range of emotions, human pain and suffering, the results of this review suggest that improving the EI skills of nurses through short training programmes is an effective way to maintain their emotional and mental well‐being. This scoping review is preregistered in Prospero (CRD42020161084).