A study to assess the effective use of emotional intelligence in coping with academic stress among nursing students at selected colleges, Mangaluru

Background: Emotional intelligence is a gate way to a balanced life. It refers to the ability to understand, use and manage one’s own emotions in a positive way to relieve stress, communicate effectively, emphasize with others, and overcome challenges. It has a great role in nursing because it helps to deal with the complexities and difficulties of managing and coping with stress arises out of the course of study as well as practice. Due to its complex stressful nature, the students of this profession are facing a great deal of academic stress which in turn reduces their ability to flourish, but with higher emotional intelligence can recognize frustration and stress related emotions effectively and can cope better with stress to balance their life. Therefore the need was felt to assess the effective use of emotional intelligence in coping with academic stress among nursing students. Methodology: A non-experimental descriptive design was used for this study. Random sampling technique was used to select 120 nursing students. The Tools, Schutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT), Student Nurse Stress Index (S.N.S.I.) and Stress Coping Style Inventory (SCSI) were used to assess the emotional intelligence, academic stress and effective use of EI in coping with academic stress among nursing students. Results: The mean emotional intelligence score of nursing students was 127.33 ± 13.07, Mean academic stress score of students was 54.48 ± 13.41 and the mean effective use of EI in coping with Academic stress score was 97.73 ± 11.85. A strong, positive correlation (‘r’= +0.886, p=0.01) was found between EI and effective use of EI in coping with academic stress. While considering the areas of effective use of EI in coping with academic stress, majority of students showed active emotional coping and active problem coping behaviour and also a positive correlation was found between EI and areas associated with Active emotional coping (+ 0.797) and Active problem coping (+0.794) significant at 0.01 level. Significant association was found between effective use of EI in coping with academic stress score and selected demographic variables like Year of study (p=0.034), Gender (p=0.023), Religion (p=0.000), Monthly family income (p=0.048), Education of father (p=0.039), Education of mother (p=0.000), Hours of sleep (p=0.000), Hobbies (p=0.000) and Previous academic score (p=0.041). Conclusion: Finding of the study showed that, the higher the Emotional Intelligence (EI) level, the higher the effective use of EI in coping with academic stress (Active Emotional Coping).It was found that there was a strong, positive correlation between emotional intelligence and effective use of EI in coping with academic stress. Emotional intelligence is one of the most important factor that aid students in recognizing emotions, comprehending their own and others' emotions, regulating emotions, and coping with academic stress. The findings of the study suggest that, there is a great need to invest resources in the development and training of EI in nursing education programs, in order to improve effective use of EI in coping with academic stress among nursing students for the betterment of both personal and professional life.