J Korean Acad Nurs Adm.  2010 Dec;16(4):466-474.

Emotional Intelligence and Job Stress of Clinical Nurses in Local Public Hospitals

• Lee S

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was done to identify the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and job stress of clinical nurses in small to medium-sized hospitals.
METHODS
Data were collected from a convenience sample of 152 nurses working in 4 local public hospitals in one district. EI was measured with the scale developed by Law, Wong, & Song (2004), and job stress with the scale by Choi, Kang, & Woo (2006). Data were analyzed with PASW (SPSS) 18.0, using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe' test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression.
RESULTS
There were significant differences in EI according to work time, in self-emotional appraisal according to salary, in regulation of emotion according to marital status, age, work time, and salary. There were also significant differences in job stress including somatization, depression and anger according to marital status, work time, and salary. Correlation between EI and job stress was negative. EI explained 17.3% of variance in job stress.
CONCLUSION
The findings indicate that to decrease job stress, nursing managers need to develop EI, especially self-emotional appraisal and regulation of emotion for nurses in their twenties and for unmarried nurses.

Keyword

Emotional Intelligence; Psychological Stress; Anger; Emotional Labor

MeSH Terms

Anger
Depression
Emotional Intelligence
Hospitals, Public
Humans
Jurisprudence
Marital Status
Salaries and Fringe Benefits
Singing
Single Person
Stress, Psychological

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