الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions. EI is a protective factor for both physical and mental health. Higher levels of EI is associated with enhancing emotional expression, higher rating of social support and interactions, family attachment, effective mood management and better adaptation with stress.
The role of EI in the nursing profession should be viewed in two dimensions: the nurse’s perception and understanding of the patient’s emotions and the nurse’s utilization of these perceptions to achieve the goal of managing complex situations towards quality patient care. Therefore EI may help nurses to regulate their emotion so as to cope effectively with stress, perform well under pressure and achieve goals. Nurses consider use of EI crucial in all aspects of their work, especially that pertaining to caring, and involving professional relationships with patients and others. They must be competent not only in technical and critical thinking skills but also, managing the emotions of patients and other professional working with them to ensure optimal patient outcomes and excellent caring behavior.
Aim of the study
The current study aims to determine the relationship between nurses’ emotional intelligence and their caring behavior at the National Medical Institute in Damanhour.
Setting:
This study was carried out in seven ICU units at the National Medical Institute in Damanhour with bed capacity 38 namely: General ICU, Intermediate ICU, Coronary Care Unit, Obstetric ICU, Neuro Surgical ICU, Medical ICU and Surgical Intermediate ICU.
Subjects:
The study subjects included a convenience sample of nurses who were available at the time of data collection and responsible for providing direct patient care in the previously mentioned units (n=62). Their educational qualifications were, three nurses hold Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, 34 nurses hold Diploma of Technical Health Institute, 25 nurses hold Diploma of Secondary Technical Nursing School.
Tools: Two tools were used in this study.
Tool Ι: Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS)
This tool was developed by Wong and Law (2002). It was adopted by the researcher to assess nurses ’EI. It includes 16 items grouped into four main dimensions namely, the Self-Emotion Appraisal (SEA), Others’ Emotion Appraisal (OEA), Use of Emotion (UOE) and Regulation of Emotion (ROE), each dimension includes 4 items.
Responses were measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from (1) totally disagree to (5) totally agree.
Tool II: The Caring behavior observation sheet
This tool was developed by Wassif (2007). It was used to assess nurses’ caring behavior as they care for their patients. It consists of three parts:
Part one: Nurse’s profile:
It includes nurse’s socio-demographic data such as (name, age, marital status, qualification and years of experience) and date of observation.
Part two: profile of the patient cared for by the nurse:
It includes patient’s demographic data such as patient’s name, age, sex, marital status, level of education, the name of the intensive care unit, hospital number, date of admission ….etc.
Part three: Caring Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS):
It consists of 71 items grouped under 11 main caring behavior subscales namely, keeping a trusting relationship (8 items), presencing / sharing / reassuring (9 items), inspiring hope (5 items), preserving dignity (4 items), preserving identity (3 items), patience (6 items), comforting (6 items and 7 sub items), protecting / advocating (4 items), giving a sense of control (4 items), fostering orientation (13 items) and supporting the patient’s family (9 items).
Responses of the nurses were measured on a 3-point likert scale ranged from (0) not done to (1) done and not applicable (-).
Method:
An official written permission was obtained from hospital authorities of Damanhour National Medical Institute (NMI) to collect the necessary data. Tool (I) was translated into Arabic, and was submitted in both Arabic and English languages to five experts in the field of the study at the faculties of nursing at Damnhour and Alexandria University to be tested for face validity and translation. Accordingly the necessary modification was done.
A pilot study was carried on 16% of nurses who were not included in the study subjects (n=10) in order to check and ensure the clarity of the tools, identify obstacles and problems that may be encountered during data collection and estimate the time needed to fill the questionnaire. Based on the pilot study no modification was done.
The researcher used tool II to observe three nurses per day and each nurse was observed three consecutive morning shifts while providing direct patient care.
Each observation continued for a minimum 6 hours. The researcher assumed the role of a complete observer, adopting a passive role with no direct social interaction in the setting. The researcher set in a place that allowed her to observe the nurses and their interaction with patients but did not interfere with the follow of patient care. The questionnaire (Tool I) was hand delivered after meeting with each nurse and needed instructions were given. It was filled by each nurse after the course of observation.
Data were collected in a period of 5 months from 20/5/2017 to 19/10/2017.
The following were main finding of the present study:
• Nurses’ perceived high mean percent score of total EI (77.30 ± 10.01), and the highest mean percent score was related to self-emotion appraisal (83.39 ± 11.76). While, the lowest mean percent score was related to regulation of emotion (70.89 ± 13.57).
• There were no statistical significant differences between nurses’ socio-demographic characteristics and their total emotional intelligence.
• Nurses’ perceived moderate mean percent score of total caring behavior (62.23±12.13), and the highest mean percent score was related to protecting/advocating (96.64 ± 8.46) followed by preserving the patient’s dignity (87.46 ± 13.47). While, the lowest mean percent score was related to fostering orientation (18.23 ± 9.72)
• There were statistical significant differences between all nurses’ socio-demographic characteristics in the term of unit, age, sex, educational qualification, years of experience and their caring behavior where p=0.000, <0.001, 0.026 , 0.001 , <0.001 respectively.
• There was no statistical significant correlation between total nurses’ EI and their total caring behavior. While, there was a positive statistical significant correlation between total nurses’ EI and preserving patient identity and supporting the patient’s family where p=0.023, 0.047 respectively.
• There was positive statistical significant correlation between nurses’ self-emotions appraisal and fostering orientation and supporting the patient’s family where p=0.026, 0.039 respectively.
• There was a positive statistical significant correlation between use of emotion and preserving patient dignity, preserving patient identity where p=0.044, 0.020 respectively. Furthermore, there was a positive significant correlation between regulation of emotions and supporting the patient’s family where p= 0.050.
Based on the results of the present study it can be concluded that:
• The hospital administrators have to conduct training programs and workshops about effective communication skills, EI, caring behavior, and the appropriate use of advanced machines used in ICUs to help nurses to identify patients’ needs, sustain nurses’ EI level, and improve their caring behavior for improving the quality of patient’ care.
• First line nurses managers have to conduct frequent meetings and open discussion with nurses to identify and meet their needs and problems to feel more comfort at work.
• Nurses have to continue their education after the completion of the basic nursing education to sustain their EI and improve their caring behavior.
• Further research to investigate factors that affecting nurses’ caring behavior and identify barriers contributing to lack of caring behavior.