An Evaluation of the Impact of Teaching Emotional Intelligence Components on the Emotional Intelligence of Medical and Nursing Students

Background: Emotional intelligence is a collection of emotions and skills that increase a person's capacity to cope with and exert control in adversity, and lead to optimal performance in various domains, including academic achievement. The present study was conducted with the aim to investigate the impact of teaching different components of emotional intelligence on the emotional intelligence of medical and nursing students of Basra University, Iraq.

Methods: The current quasi-experimental study was performed with a pretest-posttest design. With the help of a quota system, 247 students were selected at random and divided into two groups (intervention and control group). The data collection tools used included the Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Questionnaires in the academic year 2020-21. Each group took part in the posttest after 10 training sessions on emotional intelligence components. Analysis of covariance was used in SPSS software to examine the effect of group, discipline, and intervention on various components of emotional intelligence.

Results: The results indicated that teaching emotional intelligence components was effective on the emotional intelligence of medical and nursing students (F = 99.422; P < 0.01).

Conclusion: It can be concluded that emotional intelligence training is effective on the emotional intelligence and can be used as an effective method to improve students’ psychological status.