Evaluating the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Nursing Student’s Tension in Clinical Setting of Teaching and Treatment Centers of Tabriz

ntroduction: Emotional Intelligence is a set of abilities that affects individual’s total capacity in reacting to environment’s needs and stresses. As there are few studies about emotional intelligence and its relationship with stress, so this study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between emotional intelligence and nursing students’ stress in clinical setting. Methods: This was a descriptive-correlational study carried out on 350 nursing students who were studying in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences at the time of data collection. Demographic characteristics checklist, Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire for nursing students in clinics, and Nursing Students Stress Inventory in clinics were used for data collection. Then, data were analyzed by SPSS version 17. In descriptive statistics, descriptive indicators (frequency, percent, mean and standard deviation) were used in determining Results: The range of students’ age was 22.47±2.83. Mean ± standard deviation of emotional intelligence was 105.73±9.45 and mean ± standard deviation of students’ tension was 47.70±13.08. There was an indirect and significant statistical relationship between emotional intelligence and tension in nursing students (p<0.05). Conclusion: Students had a high level of emotional intelligence and experienced moderate levels of stress. There was also a statistically significant relationship between emotional intelligence and stress in nursing students, which indicates that with increasing intelligence in students, stress decreases in their clinical environment.