questions

While the widescale adoption of information technologies have catapulted production and progress in all areas of society, including innovation in education, it has left in its wake some deficiencies, like gaps in communication, empathy, and the development of emotional intelligence (EI).

Answer any three of the questions below.

While the widescale adoption of information technologies have catapulted production and progress in all areas of society, including innovation in education, it has left in its wake some deficiencies, like gaps in communication, empathy, and the development of emotional intelligence (EI).  Not only are these necessary for a healthy society, but these skills are a key component of success for our graduates, even more so for those in interpersonal career paths including Nursing and Social Work. Both my intuition and evidence-based research find that high EI contributes to self-confidence, control, flexibility, and empathy and can be a better predictor of student success post-graduation than GPA.

One of the main components of human intelligence is expressed by the ability to manage interpersonal situations.  A study that examined whether EI affected academic achievements found that the most dominant factor was the student’s flexibility factor, i.e. the more flexible one is in dealing with life situations, the higher one’s achievements are. Further, there is a high correlation between empathy, emotional control and autonomy measures and emotional intelligence scores.

Therapeutic professions such as nursing, social work, psychology and more, require emotional intelligence. Research has found that EI is important for nurses, for example, to work in harmony and address patients’ emotional and physical needs. This has resulted in a renewed focus on developing student’s caring and compassion, and a concern for the development of their emotional intelligence.  A study of 1st  and 2nd  Year nursing students showed a correlation between general EI and nursing grades, and that higher EI led to higher success of nursing graduates in clinical work in health centres. EI was also a common factor among those who are leaders, innovative and effective managers.

We continue our dialogue to both question the possibilities and share our experiences about how emotions can be taught and learned and their impact on nursing praxis and patient care outcomes.

Discussion Questions

• How can emotional intelligence be embedded into nursing education?
• What role does emotional intelligence play aligned with nursing praxis?
• What ways can educators incorporate emotional intelligence resources into the nursing curricula?
• What is the impact of embedding emotional intelligence into the nursing education curricula?

Resources

• Beauvais, A., Brady, N., O’Shea, E., & Griffin, M. (2010). Emotional intelligence and nursing performance among nursing students. Nurse Education Today. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2010.07.013 
• Sharon, D., Grinberg, K. (2018). Does the level of emotional intelligence affect the degree of success in nursing studies? Nurse Education Today, 64, 21–26.
• Gillian M. Lewisa, Christine Nevilleb, Neal M. Ashkanasy, C. (2017). Emotional intelligence and affective events in nurse education: A narrative review.  Nurse Education Today, 53, 34–40.
• Goleman, D. (1995) Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.  Bloomsbury, London.
• Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R.E., McKee, A. (2002) Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass.

Activities

Watch You aren’t at the mercy of your emotions — your brain creates them by Lisa Feldman Barretthttps://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_feldman_barrett_you_aren_t_at_the_mercy_of_your_emotions_your_brain_creates_them?language=en ;