Correlates of emotional intelligence: results from a multi-institutional study among undergraduate medical students

Emotional intelligence among medical students in Sweden - a questionnaire study

BACKGROUND

Emotional intelligence (EI), the ability to understand and regulate one's and other's emotions, has been linked to academic and clinical performance and stress management, making it an essential skill to develop during medical school. Nevertheless, uncertainty remains about the impact of medical education on EI, its association with sociodemographic factors, and the potential moderating role of gender. Therefore, this study aimed to explore levels of global EI among Swedish medical students based on their completed semesters while analyzing the potential moderator role of gender and identifying potential EI differences associated with age, gender, prior education, work experience, and previous experience working in a leadership position.

METHODS

The participants were medical students in semesters 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 at a Swedish University. Participants answered the self-report Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire - Short Form (TEIQue-SF) and demographic questions. For each participant, the mean global trait EI was calculated (range 1-7), and differences were compared based on semesters and sociodemographic factors. In addition, we investigated the relationship between semester and EI scores with gender as a moderator.

RESULTS

Of the 663 invited medical students, 429 (65%) responded, including 269 women (62.7%), 157 men (36.6%), and 3 identifying as others (0.7%). The participants had a mean global trait EI score of 5.33. Final-year students demonstrated significantly higher global trait EI scores than first-year students, and gender did not have a moderating effect across semesters. Furthermore, students in the age group 25-29 years showed higher EI scores compared to those in the age group 21-24 years, while there were no significant differences in EI scores for older students (≥ 30 years) compared to other age groups. Higher EI scores were also positively associated with previous work-and leadership experiences. Gender and previous education did not significantly impact EI scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that higher EI scores are associated with semesters of medical education, age, and previous work and leadership experience. Future longitudinal studies are needed to identify factors that could improve EI among medical students to design curricular activities aimed at supporting the EI of the next generation of physicians.

Emotional intelligence weakly predicts academic success in medical programs: a multilevel meta-analysis and systematic review

BACKGROUND

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a predictive factor of academic success in undergraduate Doctor of Medicine (MD) programs. Although some research suggests a positive association between EI and academic success in MD programs, other research reports neither an association nor a negative correlation between the two variables. The current study aimed to resolve these contradictory findings by conducting a systematic review and a meta-analysis using research from 2005 to 2022.

METHODS

Data were analyzed using a multilevel modeling approach to (a) estimate the overall relationship between EI and academic success in MD programs and (b) determine whether the mean effect size varies according to country (United States vs. non-United States countries), age, EI test, EI task nature (ability-based vs. trait-based), EI subscales, and academic performance criteria (grade point average vs. examinations).

RESULTS

Findings from 20 studies (m = 105; N = 4,227) indicated a positive correlation between EI and academic success (r = .13, 95% CI [.08, - .27], p < .01). Moderator analyses indicated that the mean effect size significantly varied according to EI tests and EI subscales. Moreover, three-level multiple regression analyses showed that between-study variance explained 29.5% of the variability in the mean effect size, whereas within-study variance explained 33.5% of the variability in the mean effect.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, the current findings show that EI is significantly, albeit weakly, related to academic success in MD programs. Medical researchers and practitioners can therefore focus on integrating EI-related skills into the MD curriculum or target them through professional development training and programs.

Emotional intelligence in undergraduate medical students: a scoping review

PURPOSE

To perform a scoping review to determine what is known about emotional intelligence (EI) in undergraduate medical education (UME). Two main questions were asked: A. What medical student characteristics are associated with EI? Are there correlations with demographic or other factors? B. What research studies have been done on EI in UME? For example, is there evidence EI changes over time as a result of personal experiences? Should EI be used as an admission criterion? Can EI improve as a result of experiences or deliberate interventions?

METHOD

The authors searched four databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, Education Resources Information Center, and Web of Science) for all papers published up to and including December 2020. Two reviewers independently screened articles to determine if they met inclusion criteria. All authors extracted and analyzed data.

RESULTS

A set of 1520 papers on the topic of emotional intelligence was identified, with 119 papers meeting inclusion criteria. Most studies were done at international locations with only 17 done at US medical schools. Seventy-five were cohort or cross-sectional studies. Study populations were mixed among the studies, with year of medical study, inclusion of other healthcare students, and participation rates among the inter-study differences noted.

CONCLUSIONS

Numerous gaps in the literature on EI exist with several points being clear: (1) there is disagreement on the definition of EI, (2) it is undetermined whether EI is a trait or an ability, and (3) there is marked variability among the instruments used to measure EI. It is also becoming apparent that using EI determination may be helpful as a component of the admission process, higher EI is likely related to improved clinical reasoning, and higher EI contributes to more effective stress management.

Emotional Intelligence Instruments Used in Health Care Education

BACKGROUND

This article aims to describe the content and the psychometric properties of emotional intelligence instruments used in health care education and to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and study success.

METHOD

Six electronic databases were searched in spring 2020. Two researchers participated in the selection and quality assessment of the articles. Ultimately, 26 articles were included in the review.

RESULTS

From the included articles, 18 emotional intelligence instruments were identified. The content of the instruments focused on perception of emotions, understanding of emotions, emotional expression, managing emotions, using emotions, and social awareness and relations. In most of the studies, emotional intelligence was related to study success.

CONCLUSION

The assessment of several important components of emotional intelligence was identified. Comprehensive assessment using the emotional intelligence total score seemed to be the best predictor of study success. [J Nurs Educ. 2022;61(1):6-11.].

Emotional Intelligence: Changes Over the First Year of Physician Assistant Education

PURPOSE

To investigate emotional intelligence (EI) development in physician assistant (PA) students as they progress through their didactic education.

METHODS

Data were gathered through an online survey of EI distributed to a purposeful sample of 5 institutions with similar curriculum length and start dates. Program directors forwarded the survey to students at the start of their didactic education (pretest). Follow-up surveys were distributed via email to the students at the end of their didactic education (posttest). The survey consisted of 33 items related to 4 subscales of EI. Participants' age, gender, and previous healthcare experience were gathered. Five repeated measures ANOVAs were calculated for each EI summary score. Independent sample t-tests were conducted between pretest scores and a previously established EI mean.

RESULTS

A total of 192 first-year students were solicited. A sample of 68 (16 males; 52 females) served as participants. No results were attained for gender or age due to unbalanced sample sizes. Significant results were realized for total EI and the Managing Others' Emotions subscale.

CONCLUSION

Participants with more than one healthcare experience demonstrated significantly high emotional intelligence on the pretest. Participants with one healthcare experience demonstrated a significant increase in total EI and the Managing Others' Emotions subscale. The main limitation of the study was the attrition of participants between measures. Future research is needed to assess EI at the end of the clinical year, after a period of clinical experience, and to determine which educational activities are most likely to enhance EI.

Academic Performance and Emotional Intelligence with Age and Gender as Moderators: A Meta-analysis

Emotional intelligence has been considered an important construct by schools and universities because of its theoretical importance and practical implications. Considerable resources and time have been spent by the educational institutions to develop the emotional skills of their students. The present meta-analysis aimed at studying the relationship of emotional intelligence, including its three theoretical models, with academic performance while accounting for age and gender as moderators. "Robumeta" package was used for the meta-analysis of multilevel random effects with robust variance estimation (RVE) in R version 4.0.3. Effect sizes were calculated and meta-regression analysis with RVE was used to assess the relationship with the moderator variables. A positive and significant overall relationship was found between emotional intelligence and academic performance (ρ = 0.19). The moderating effect of emotional intelligence with gender streams on emotional intelligence and academic performance's relationship was examined through meta-regression with robust variance estimation and sub-group analyses. Whereas the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic performance was not found to be moderated by age, it was found to be partially mediated by gender.

Emotional Intelligence and Uncertainty among Undergraduate Nursing Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak: A Comparative Study

Background:

Emotional intelligence is considered to be one factor that helps individuals control their feelings.

Objectives:

This study aimed to investigate the emotional intelligence and uncertainty among undergraduate nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

Methods:

A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used on a convenience sample, consisting of 284 undergraduate nursing students at the Faculty of Nursing, Zagazig University, Egypt, Faculty of Applied Medical Science, Taibah University, and Al-Ghad International Colleges, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Data were collected as responses to a questionnaire, which incorporated a sociodemographic datasheet, the Emotional Intelligence Scale, and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale.

Results:

The results showed significant differences in emotional intelligence mean scores between Saudi nursing students, who scored higher than their Egyptian counterparts, whereas the uncertainty mean scores were significantly higher among nursing students in Egypt than those in Saudi Arabia. Students in Saudi Arabia were significantly more satisfied with online education and online exams compared with those in Egypt. A negative correlation was identified between emotional intelligence mean scores and uncertainty mean scores among nursing students.

Conclusion:

A focus on the concept of emotional intelligence during university education may assist in the establishment of a supportive environment that can reduce uncertainty among nursing students. Improving, updating, financing, and facilitating online education technology should be a focus of educational institutions and ministries of education worldwide.

The Evaluation of Emotional Intelligence among Medical Students and Its Links with Non-cognitive Acceptance Measures to Medical School

BACKGROUND

The importance of emotional intelligence (EI) to the success of health professionals has been increasingly acknowledged. Concurrently, medical schools have begun integrating non-cognitive measures in candidate selection processes. The question remains whether these newly added processes correctly assess EI skills.

OBJECTIVES

Measuring EI levels among medical students; examining the correlations between participants' EI levels and their scores on the non-cognitive MOR test; and exploring students' attitudes regarding the importance of EI in medical practice.

METHODS

The study included 111 first-year and sixth-year students at the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, Haifa, Israel. Emotional intelligence was assessed by the Bar-On EQ-i 2.0, and MOR evaluation scores were provided by the faculty. An additional questionnaire was designed to rate students' attitudes toward the importance of EI to the success of medical doctors (MDs).

RESULTS

No significant correlations were found between MOR test scores and EI evaluation scores. Of the 15 EI competencies evaluated, mean scores for flexibility, problem-solving, and independence were lowest for both the first-year and the sixth-year study groups. No differences in EI levels between first-year and sixth-year students were found. Both groups of students considered EI to be highly important to their success as MDs.

CONCLUSIONS

While further studies of the links between MOR tests and EI are required, the current findings indicate that MOR test scores may not be predictive of medical students' EI levels and vice versa. As previous evidence suggests that EI contributes to professional success and to better outcomes in the field of medicine, integrating it into selection processes for medical students and into the curricula in medical schools is recommended.

Emotional intelligence training intervention among trainee teachers: a quasi-experimental study

Background

Emotional intelligence (EI) has often been linked to improvements in professional performance. Indeed, generic competencies related to EI have been included in university curricula. However, learning EI involves significant time and effort on the part of students, and this may hinder the acquisition of specific content for each degree. In this study, an intervention to develop EI in higher education students is described and evaluated.

Methods

The intervention consisted of eight group sessions performed in a regular course aiming to increase EI. The sessions included strategies and training on perceiving and understanding one’s own emotions and others’ emotions, identifying and understanding the impact one’s own feelings in adopting decisions, expressing one’s own emotions and the stress experienced, and managing both one’s own emotions and emotions of others. Participants were 192 students studying for a Master of Primary Education degree. A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was adopted. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated using multi-level analyses.

Results

The results showed a significant improvement in the EI of students in the experimental group compared with the control group.

Conclusions

This research demonstrates that it is possible to develop EI in higher education students, without hindering the acquisition of specific content competencies and, therefore, without interfering with their academic performance and without overburdening students with work outside the classroom.

Trial registration

The experiment has been registered in the Initial Deposit of the Spanish Center for Sociological Research (CIS). 7/6/2015. http://www.cis.es/cis/opencms/ES/index.html.

Emotional intelligence of medical students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences cross sectional study

Emotional intelligence is the ability of an individual to assess and control emotions in oneself and others and also use this information in ongoing coping methods. Emotional intelligence is known to have an effect on the success rate of an individual as well as job performance and satisfaction. Though contradictory, emotional intelligence is supposed to have multiple factors affecting it. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Shiraz University of Medical Sciences has an effect on the emotional intelligence of its medical students and also whether the students' emotional intelligence had a relationship with their gender, hometown, and application exam rank or cumulative grade point average. Junior and senior medical students were approached from Autumn (2016) until winter 2017 and asked if they would fill out the Persian translation of TEIQue-SF questionnaire. They were also asked to inform us about their gender, educational region, cumulative grade point average, and Konkoor rank. The data was later analyzed by SPSS ver. 22. A significant difference was found between emotional intelligence of junior and senior medical students. No significant difference was found between emotional intelligence of male and female participants and there was no relation between emotional intelligence and Konkoor rank, cumulative grade point average, and educational region. The results showed that medical education has a negative effect the emotional intelligence. Males and females in this study had the same emotional intelligence that suggests the social effects on emotional intelligence. Also, the net effect of hometown and culture was not significant enough to influence emotional intelligence. As we analyzed the relationship of emotional intelligence and cumulative grade point average, it was concluded that the academic success of the students which is based on their scores is not related to their emotional intelligence.

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Emotional intelligence decreases in the course of medical education.

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Emotional intelligence has no difference between genders.

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Emotional intelligence is not related to grade point average or rank in the entry exam.

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Emotional intelligence is not related to hometown.

Exploring variability of teaching & supervision at clinical clerkship teaching sites

Objective:

To explore undergraduate medical students’ perception of variation in teaching and supervision at different clinical teaching sites.

Methods:

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the College of Medicine & Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, UAE during 2017. Four clinical teaching sites affiliated with CMHS were evaluated namely Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), Ambulatory Care Clinics (AC), Tawam Hospital (TH) and Al-Ain Hospital (AH). An online questionnaire was administered to year five and six students.

Results:

The response rate was 84.4%. Overall perception of the students about their clinical clerkship experience was positive. SKMC was rated as the best teaching site with mean rating of 3.79±0.97-4.79±0.43. The highest rated item was clinical teacher’s promotion of critical thinking in students while the lowest rated item was the opportunity to take responsibility for patient care. Ambulatory Care site had a mean rating of 2.33±1.23-4.13±1.19. The highest rated item at this site was the clinical teacher encouraging students to ask questions and participate actively. At Tawam Hospital, the mean ratings ranged between 2.65±1.64-4.31±0.86 with highest rated item being ability of the students to see cases with positive clinical findings. At the Al-Ain Hospital, the mean rating was in the range of 2.79±1.45-3.81±1.11. The item rated highest here was the ability of students to see cases with positive clinical findings. The lowest rated item at all three sites was the availability of on-call rooms and lockers. Significant variability was seen across training sites in the clinical teacher’s ability to act as professional role models, the opportunity for students to apply their previous knowledge to patient care and to independently assess patients before discussion with teachers.

Conclusion:

This study tool highlights variation in clinical teaching and supervision at four clinical teaching sites. It provides specific, actionable information which can be utilized to deliver equitable learning experiences across clinical clerkships and teaching sites. It places emphasis on the fact that lack of physical facilities hampers clinical teaching and supervision, hence, on call rooms, lockers and separate rooms for independent student interaction with patients should be provided at all clinical teaching sites.

Predictors and correlations of emotional intelligence among medical students at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah

Objectives:

To determine the predictors of Emotional Intelligence (EI), and its relationship with academic performance, leadership capacity, self-efficacy and the perceived stress between medical students at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was done among 540 students selected through a multi-stage stratified random sampling method during 2015/2016. A standardized, confidential data collection sheet was used. It included Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence (SSREI) scale, Authentic Leadership questionnaire, General Self-Efficacy Scale and the short version of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4). Both descriptive and inferential statistics were done, and a multiple linear regression model was constructed.

Results:

The predictors of high EI were gender (female), increasing age, and being non-smoker. EI was positively associated with better academic performance, leadership capacity and self-efficacy. It was negatively correlated to perceived-stress.

Conclusion:

Female gender, age, non-smoking were the predictors of high EI. Conduction of holistic training programs on EI, leadership and self-efficacy are recommended. More smoking control programs and stress management courses are required.

A Study of Emotional Intelligence Among Postgraduate Medical Students in Delhi

Context: The importance of emotional intelligence (EI) in the successful practice of medicine has been well established. However, efforts to study the same in India, especially in doctors and medical students, are lacking. This study has measured the emotional intelligence of postgraduate medical students in Delhi and aimed to identify some of the factors affecting it.

Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study, using the Schutte's Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test, to measure the EI of 200 postgraduate medical students of two medical colleges in Delhi. Students working in clinical specialties were selected randomly and contacted by the first author. Data was collected by a self-administered questionnaire.

Results: The mean scores of EI among the study participants was 124.4 with a standard deviation of 12.8. The total scores possible in the scale range from 33 to 165, with higher scores representing higher EI. The age of the participants was positively associated with emotional intelligence (r = 0.187, p = 0.008). EI was also found to decrease with the increase in total workload (p=0.013), having night duty hours (p = 0.019), and having emergency duty (p = 0.037).  

Conclusions: More studies to measure the EI of doctors, the factors affecting it, and possible measures to improve it, are needed. The workload of the resident doctors needs to be assessed with appropriate changes made in the total work done and the quality of work done. 

Validity and reliability of bilingual English-Arabic version of Schutte self report emotional intelligence scale in an undergraduate Arab medical student sample

BACKGROUND

The psychological construct of emotional intelligence (EI), its theoretical models, measurement instruments and applications have been the subject of several research studies in health professions education.

AIM

The objective of the current study was to investigate the factorial validity and reliability of a bilingual version of the Schutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Scale (SSREIS) in an undergraduate Arab medical student population.

METHODS

The study was conducted during April-May 2012. A cross-sectional survey design was employed. A sample (n = 467) was obtained from undergraduate medical students belonging to the male and female medical college of King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed using SPSS 16.0 and AMOS 4.0 statistical software to determine the factor structure. Reliability was determined using Cronbach's alpha statistics.

RESULTS

The results obtained using an undergraduate Arab medical student sample supported a multidimensional; three factor structure of the SSREIS. The three factors are Optimism, Awareness-of-Emotions and Use-of-Emotions. The reliability (Cronbach's alpha) for the three subscales was 0.76, 0.72 and 0.55, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Emotional intelligence is a multifactorial construct (three factors). The bilingual version of the SSREIS is a valid and reliable measure of trait emotional intelligence in an undergraduate Arab medical student population.