Comparing the Relationship of Emotional Intelligence and General Health in Nurses of Intensive Care Units With General Units in Qazvin

Background and aims: To know that how emotional intelligence and general health are related, canplay a crucial role in the quality of nurses’ performance. The present study was conducted to comparethe relationship of emotional intelligence and general health in nurses of intensive care units withother units in Qazvin city, Iran.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses working in hospitals of Qazvin in2018. To this end, 250 nurses were selected by random sampling. Data collection tool was GoldbergGeneral 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 ofPearson correlation, t test, ANOVA, chi-square, and liner regression. A P value less than 0.05 was alsoconsidered statistically significant.Results: The mean score of general health was 21.33 ± 10 and the mean score of emotional intelligencewas 122.8 ± 11.5. The findings showed that there was a statistically significant relationship betweenemotional intelligence and general health and all general health components (P < 0.05). Level ofdepression in Intensive Care Unit was higher than that in other units (P < 0.05). Moreover, accordingto linear regression coefficient, there was a statistically significant association between general healthand emotional intelligence (P < 0.05), to such a degree that increasing emotional intelligence causedan 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 emotionalintelligence is very effective and valuable in improving mental health and as a result, in reducingjob stress, increasing the quality of nursing care, reducing burnout, and ultimately increasing patientsatisfaction from nursing care.