The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on Psychiatric Nurses' Care Behavior, and the Chain Mediating Role of Compassion Fatigue and Perception of Management.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate psychiatric nurses' emotional intelligence and its effect on care behavior, while also examining the mediating effect of compassion fatigue and perception of management.

Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in several specialized psychiatric hospitals with 360 psychiatric nurses. Self-report surveys were administered, which included the Caring Factor Survey-Caring of Manager, Caring Behaviors Inventory, Compassion Fatigue Short Scale, and Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive, correlation, and path analyses.

Results: Mean score for care behavior was 4.78 (SD = 0.83), which was at a moderate level. Compassion fatigue exhibited negative correlations with other variables. Results of mediation effect analysis showed that emotional intelligence directly predicted care behavior (p < 0.001). Emotional intelligence also indirectly affected care behavior through the mediating roles of perception of management and compassion fatigue, and affected care behavior through the chain mediation effect of perception of management and compassion fatigue.

Conclusion: Nurse managers should pay attention to the influence of emotional intelligence on care behavior and improve care behavior by strengthening leadership and alleviating compassion fatigue. [Journal of Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health Services, xx(xx), xx-xx.].