Increasing nurses' emotional intelligence with a brief intervention

Background: Emotional intelligence (EI) is associated with a wide range of personal, professional and social benefits with numerous applications evident for nursing education and clinical practice. Despite growing support for increasing the focus on EI in nursing and nurse education, empirical evidence for the effectiveness of training to increase EI is sparse. The aim with this study was to test the effect of a brief EI training program for registered nurses. Methods: We conducted a cross-site quasi-experimental study measuring nurses' EI pre- (T1) and three months post- (T2) EI training with a matched (untrained) control group (total n = 60). EI training consisted of a five- hour workshop, a 30-minute one-on-one feedback session, and an individualised follow-up reminder sent via SMS. Results: Training resulted in a significant increase in EI scores over baseline levels for the trained group while scores for the control group did not increase. Conclusion: This pilot study has provided clear evidence of the applicability and efficacy of a low-cost training intervention for nursing staff in a real world setting.