Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Well-Being Among Nurses In A Psychiatric Hospital In Kuwait

Abstract

Emotional intelligence is the ability of an individual to recognize his or her own feelings, rationalize among those feelings as well as incorporate such feelings into thinking and actions. Psychological well-being is recognized as the capability to actively participate in work and to create important relationships with others, and to establish positive emotions. In today’s practice, patients’ care is not only confined to the physical ailment but also to the psychological and emotional needs of the patients, hence, the role of emotional intelligence and psychological well-being must be taken seriously, as nurses are confronted not only by the patients’ emotions but also by their own. This study aims to gain insight into the level of emotional intelligence and psychological well-being among nurses in a psychiatric hospital in Kuwait and to determine the significant relationship between the levels of emotional intelligence, psychological well-being and the profile of mental health nurses focusing on the field of caring. Quantitative non-experimental descriptive correlational design was used, and the standardized questionnaires namely: Schutte Self-Report Emotional Test (SSRET) and Psychological Well-being Scale (PWBS) were used to gather data from 150 respondents. Results shows most of the surveyed respondents are male (58.7%), belongs to generation Y (23 – 38 years old) or the millennial age (65.3%). Mostly are married (90%), obtained a baccalaureate degree in nursing (74.7%). Majority are Indian national (66%) having 1 – 5 years of work experience (30%). Pearson Product-Moment Correlation and chi square test were used to analyze the data. The results showed a high level of emotional intelligence of mental health nurses’ and low score in almost all the subscale of PWB with a low overall mean score of 141.40 (SD = 20.80). The correlation results also showed that there is no significant positive correlation between emotional intelligence and psychological well-being. Further, the result of the chi-squared test showed that there is no statistically significant correlation between demographic profile and psychological well-being and emotional intelligence of mental health nurses in Kuwait.