Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Problem Solving Abilities among Nurse Teachers

Abstract

Emotional intelligence is a mental process that includes appraising and expressing and managing emotions in self and others and adaptively using emotion to guide behavior and solve problem (Champoux,2011). It is the ability to recognize emotions understand what they are telling and realize how emotions effect people, also involves perception of others when understand how they feel, this allows to manage relationships more effectively (Golman,2011). The study aimed at assessing the relationship between emotional intelligence and problem solving abilities among nurse teachers through: identifying emotional intelligence level among nurse teachers, assessing problem solving abilities among nurse teachers, and finding out the relationship between emotional intelligence and problem solving abilities among nurse teachers. This study was conducted in five schools of the general secretariat for mental health, which affiliated to Ministry of Health, it located in three governorates (Cairo- Qalubia- Alexandria). The subjects for the study included all nurse teachers who worked in the above mention settings during data collection period their total number was (50) nurse teachers divided as follow;Abbassia for girls (13) nurse teachers, Abbassia for boys (9) nurse teachers, Helwan for boys (7) nurse teachers, Khanka for boys (9)nurse teachers, Alma’morafor girls (12) nurse teachers. Tools of data collection: Data for this study were collected through two tools namely: Emotional Intelligence (EI) Questionnaire Sheet, problem solving abilities Questionnaire Sheet. The first tool: Emotional Intelligence (EI) Questionnaire Sheet. It consisted of two parts: First part:included demographic characteristics data of the respondents as: age, gender, marital status,qualifications, years of experience and attending training courses. Second part: Emotional Intelligence (EI) Questionnaire Sheet: it was developed byEldidi, (2005) based onSalama, (1986)- Bar-On, (1997)it is a self-report assessment to measure emotional intelligence. It consisted of 75 items grouped under five dimension which included: Self-awareness (15items), Managing emotion (15items), Motivating oneself (15items), Empathy (15items), Handling relationship (15items).

The second tool: Problem–Solving Questionnaire: it was developed byFayed, (1999)based onHeppner &Petersen, (1982).It assesses how to evaluate the respondent to resolve personal problems. It consisted of 27 items divided into three groups which included: problem solving confidence (9items), approach and avoidance style (14items), and personal control (4items). The results of the study revealed that: - Less than three fifth of nurse teachers (58 % (had ageless than35years. More than three quarters of them (80%) were female;additionally 31% of them were married.More than two thirdsof nurse teachers had school diploma, also one fifth of study sample had more than 20 years of experience and majority of nurse teacherswereattending training courses. - Study subjects indicated that, no one of nurse teachers had high emotional intelligence level in motivating oneself empathy, handling relationships dimensions.Majority of nurse teachers had moderatelevel of total emotional intelligence in self-awareness dimension.