Emotional Intelligence and Positive Mental Health Among Nurses: A Replication Study

Background: Emotional intelligence and positive mental health have been identified as protective mechanisms for nurses.

Aim: This study aims to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence and positive mental health among nurses in an acute care setting and to compare these results with prior research to assess the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Methods: Survey data were electronically collected 20 months post-declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic. Participants were volunteer nurses employed during the pandemic. Study data included self-disclosed demographic information and responses on the Emotional Intelligence Assessment Scale and the Positive Mental Health Scale. Subgroups based on age, level of education, and years of experience were developed to examine their effects on the results. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed on all demographic data, including means, ranges, percentages, and standard deviations.

Results: Emotional intelligence was reported as medium or high among all participants and varied slightly among the study subgroups. Positive mental health was also ranked medium or high by all participants, though the percentage of participants rating their positive mental health as high was lower compared to their emotional intelligence; only 31.25% of those with less than five years of experience rated their positive mental health as high.

Conclusion: Emotional health is consistently present among nurses, regardless of age, level of education, or years of experience. Positive mental health, while present, was reported to be less robust. If there is indeed a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and positive mental health, these data suggest that a population could benefit from targeted emotional support specific to their career.