Do emotional intelligence and previous caring experience influence student nurse performance? A comparative analysis.
BACKGROUND
Reports of poor nursing care have focused attention on values based selection of candidates onto nursing programmes. Values based selection lacks clarity and valid measures. Previous caring experience might lead to better care. Emotional intelligence (EI) might be associated with performance, is conceptualised and measurable.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the impact of 1) previous caring experience, 2) emotional intelligence 3) social connection scores on performance and retention in a cohort of first year nursing and midwifery students in Scotland.


METHODS
A longitudinal, quasi experimental design.


METHODS
Adult and mental health nursing, and midwifery programmes in a Scottish University.


METHODS
Adult, mental health and midwifery students (n=598) completed the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-short form and Schutte's Emotional Intelligence Scale on entry to their programmes at a Scottish University, alongside demographic and previous caring experience data. Social connection was calculated from a subset of questions identified within the TEIQue-SF in a prior factor and Rasch analysis. Student performance was calculated as the mean mark across the year. Withdrawal data were gathered.


RESULTS
598 students completed baseline measures. 315 students declared previous caring experience, 277 not. An independent-samples t-test identified that those without previous caring experience scored higher on performance (57.33±11.38) than those with previous caring experience (54.87±11.19), a statistically significant difference of 2.47 (95% CI, 0.54 to 4.38), t(533)=2.52, p=.012. Emotional intelligence scores were not associated with performance. Social connection scores for those withdrawing (mean rank=249) and those remaining (mean rank=304.75) were statistically significantly different, U=15,300, z=-2.61, p$_amp_$lt;0.009.


CONCLUSIONS
Previous caring experience led to worse performance in this cohort. Emotional intelligence was not a useful indicator of performance. Lower scores on the social connection factor were associated with withdrawal from the course.
University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Rosie.Stenhouse@ed.ac.uk.
Rosie
R
Stenhouse
Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom.
Austyn
A
Snowden
Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom.
Jenny
J
Young
Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom.
Fiona
F
Carver
Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom.
Hannah
H
Carver
Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom.
Norrie
N
Brown
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D056348:Emotional Intelligence; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012606:Scotland; D012945:Social Values; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Emotional intelligence; Longitudinal; Performance; Pre-registration; Previous caring experience; Student nurse