Emotional intelligence and stress coping in dental undergraduates--a qualitative study.
OBJECTIVE
To explore how dental undergraduates with different levels of emotional intelligence (EI) cope with stress.


METHODS
Qualitative unstructured depth interviews.


METHODS
A dental teaching hospital in the UK, 2002.


METHODS
Subjects selected from the undergraduate population of a 5-year dental degree course. A questionnaire survey was carried out to determine the EI scores of the subjects. In each year of study, subjects were divided into low and high EI groups at the median score. From each EI group in each year, one male and one female subject were recruited.


METHODS
Unstructured face-to-face interviews.


METHODS
Transcribing, sifting, indexing and charting data according to key themes.


RESULTS
10 males and 10 females with low and high EI, representing all 5 years of study were interviewed. The experience of stress, expressed in emotional terms, ranged from anger and frustration to hatred. Four sets of coping strategies, adopted at varying degrees according to EI, were identified. High EI students were more likely to adopt reflection and appraisal, social and interpersonal, and organisation and time-management skills. Low EI students were more likely to engage in health-damaging behaviours.


CONCLUSIONS
Future research needs to establish whether the enhancement of EI in dental students would lead to improved stress-coping, and better physical and psychological health.
Pau
A K H
AK
Centre for Oral Biometrics, Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London, Turner Street, London E1 2AD, UK.
Croucher
R
R
Sohanpal
R
R
Muirhead
V
V
Seymour
K
K
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000786:Anger; D001290:Attitude; D004644:Emotions; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D005260:Female; D005639:Frustration; D006252:Hate; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012919:Social Behavior; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D017748:Time Management