Leili Yekefallah
1 
, Leila Dehghankar
2* , Mahya Shafaei
2 , Fereshteh Yekefallah
3 1 Assistant Professor of Critical Care Nursing, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran
2 Department of Nursing, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran
3 Public Health of Health Network of Savojbolagh, Alborz, Iran
Abstract
Background and aims: To know that how emotional intelligence and general health are related, can
play a crucial role in the quality of nurses’ performance. The present study was conducted to compare
the relationship of emotional intelligence and general health in nurses of intensive care units with
other units in Qazvin city, Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses working in hospitals of Qazvin in
2018. To this end, 250 nurses were selected by random sampling. Data collection tool was Goldberg
General Health Standard Questionnaire (GHQ) and Shearing’s Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire
(EIQ). Data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software version 18.0 using the statistical tests of
Pearson correlation, t test, ANOVA, chi-square, and liner regression. A P value less than 0.05 was also
considered statistically significant.
Results: The mean score of general health was 21.33 ± 10 and the mean score of emotional intelligence
was 122.8 ± 11.5. The findings showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between
emotional intelligence and general health and all general health components (P <0.05). Level of
depression in Intensive Care Unit was higher than that in other units (P <0.05). Moreover, according
to linear regression coefficient, there was a statistically significant association between general health
and emotional intelligence (P <0.05), to such a degree that increasing emotional intelligence caused
an increase in general health. This model identified 5.6% of health variance, emotional intelligence,
and body mass index (BMI) variables as predictive variables.
Conclusion: Considering the fact that nursing is a stressful profession, attention to emotional
intelligence is very effective and valuable in improving mental health and as a result, in reducing
job stress, increasing the quality of nursing care, reducing burnout, and ultimately increasing patient
satisfaction from nursing care.