Emotional Intelligence and the Perception of Stressors at Work Among Healthcare Employees in Neonatology and Paediatrics

Abstract

Addressing the stress of medical staff has become a priority in the health sector due to the high prevalence of professional exhaustion among healthcare employees and due to the negative outcomes associated with burnout of medical personnel. By measuring workplace stressors, the management of medical organizations can identify the most important sources of physicians’ exhaustion and can change different administrative policies to reduce them. Another widespread practice in stress management is the measurement of individual differences that could be vulnerability or protection factors for the occurrence of exhaustion, such as emotional intelligence. This study explored the relationship between physicians' emotional intelligence and their perceived level of the most significant stressors. One hundred nine physicians ( Mage = 35.42, SD = 7.05, 7.3% males, 92.7% females) from the field of neonatology, pediatrics, or anesthesiology, recruited from the South-West, South-East, and the North of Romania completed measures of emotional intelligence and perceived work-related stressors. Emotional intelligence (intrapersonal emotional intelligence, interpersonal emotional intelligence, stress management, adaptability, and general mood) was measured with the Romanian version of Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) and perceived stressors at work (work relationship, aspects of the job, overload, control, lack of job security, lack of resources and communication, lack of work-life balance) were measured with the Romanian version of Organizational Stress Screening Tool (ASSET). The zero-order correlations among study variables were conducted, followed by a series of hierarchical multiple regressions. Stress management explained 11% of the extent to which work relationships were perceived as a stressor. Intrapersonal emotional intelligence accounted for 6.4% of the variance in the extent to which the lack of work-life balance was perceived as a stressor. Stress management accounted for 17% of the variance in the extent to which the lack of resources and poor communication were perceived as stressors. Intrapersonal emotional intelligence accounted for 6.6% of the variance in the extent to other aspects of the job were perceived as stressors. There were no differences regarding the perceived stressors between the considered geographic regions (South-West, South-East, and North). Drawing on these findings, decision-makers may develop training programs to enhance the level of emotional intelligence with the aim of decreasing work-related stress in the medical field in Romania.