Emotional Intelligence of Nursing Students in a Private University, Udon Thani

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive research were to study level of emotional intelligence of nursing students in a private university, Udon Thani and to analyze relationships between personal, family and social and environmental factors with emotional intelligence in each aspect. Samples were 297 bachelor of nursing students in a private university, Udon Thani in academic year of 2023. Data were collected using a general information questionnaire with content validity approved by 3 experts with a consistency index (0.66-1.00) and Department of Mental Health's emotional intelligence t assessment with reliability using Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.89. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square tests. Results showed that 1) The overall emotional intelligence of the most samples were at a normal level (63.64%), followed by a low level (19.87%) and a high level (16.50%). When considering each component, It was found that the majority of the samples had emotional intelligence at a normal level in regards of competence (27.28%), virtue (14.76%), and happiness (21.55%); 2) factors related to emotional intelligence of the samples were: 2.1) ‘smart’ aspect including grade level, grade point average, alcohol consumption, accommodation, and co-resident (p<0.05), 2.2) ‘virtue’ aspect including grade level, grade point average, adequacy of monthly income, alcohol consumption and smoking (p<0.05), and 2.3) ‘happiness’ aspect including grade level, social media addiction, alcohol consumption, parenting style, alcohol consumption in family members and accommodation (p<0.0). From the results, educational institutions should provide continuous activities that help build emotional intelligence for nursing students, in all aspects: smart, virtue and happiness by integrating with teaching and learning and extra-curricular activities.