Abstract:
Background: Emotional Intelligence (EI) is defined as the ability of understanding and
managing one’s emotions on their own. The ability to understand others' feelings and
experiences is defined as empathy. EI and empathy during patient-student nurse communication
are critical components in successful caring and understanding of health issues. However, there
is a dearth of studies in Sri Lanka on evaluating the relationship between empathy and EI
among nursing undergraduates.
Objectives: To assess factors associated with EI and empathy, and the relationship between
them among nursing undergraduates in the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences (FAHS),
Kotelawala Defence University (KDU), Sri Lanka.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out recruiting all nursing
undergraduates (n=224) from FAHS, KDU. A pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire,
cross-culturally adapted Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test and Toronto Empathy
Questionnaire were used to collect demographic data, EI and empathy, respectively. Data were
analysed using Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis and Spearman’s correlation coefficient tests
with SPSS version 25.0.
Results: The majority of the participants were females (81.20%) and in the first year (43.7%).
The mean (SD) EI was 126.72 (±22.35) and the mean Empathy was 42.83 (±7.38) in the study
population. EI score correlated moderately with empathy score (p<0.001, r=0.602). There were
significant mean differences in EI among religion (p=0.006), year of study (p=0.042), the main
reason for selecting nursing (p=0.009), interest in nursing (p=0.031) and satisfaction of nursing
undergraduate life (p=0.001). There were significant differences in empathy among the two
genders (p=0.003), year of study (p<0.001), main reasons for selecting nursing (p=0.004),
various interests in nursing (p=0.025) and satisfaction of nursing undergraduate life (p=0.006).
Conclusions: EI is positively correlated with empathy among nursing undergraduates at KDU
while factors such as year of study, reason for selecting nursing and satisfaction of nursing
undergraduate life affect both attributes.
