Tracy Cleveland, EdD, MS, PA-C, is a professor in the Physician Assistant Studies Program at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota.
Roberto Canales, DHSc, MS, PA-C, is a professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.
J Physician Assist Educ. 2021 Dec 1;32(4):225-231. doi: 10.1097/JPA.0000000000000382.
To investigate emotional intelligence (EI) development in physician assistant (PA) students as they progress through their didactic education.
Data were gathered through an online survey of EI distributed to a purposeful sample of 5 institutions with similar curriculum length and start dates. Program directors forwarded the survey to students at the start of their didactic education (pretest). Follow-up surveys were distributed via email to the students at the end of their didactic education (posttest). The survey consisted of 33 items related to 4 subscales of EI. Participants' age, gender, and previous healthcare experience were gathered. Five repeated measures ANOVAs were calculated for each EI summary score. Independent sample t-tests were conducted between pretest scores and a previously established EI mean.
A total of 192 first-year students were solicited. A sample of 68 (16 males; 52 females) served as participants. No results were attained for gender or age due to unbalanced sample sizes. Significant results were realized for total EI and the Managing Others' Emotions subscale.
Participants with more than one healthcare experience demonstrated significantly high emotional intelligence on the pretest. Participants with one healthcare experience demonstrated a significant increase in total EI and the Managing Others' Emotions subscale. The main limitation of the study was the attrition of participants between measures. Future research is needed to assess EI at the end of the clinical year, after a period of clinical experience, and to determine which educational activities are most likely to enhance EI.
调查医师助理（PA）学生在完成理论教育过程中的情绪智力（EI）发展情况。
通过对 5 所具有相似课程长度和开课日期的机构的特定样本进行在线 EI 调查收集数据。课程主任在理论教育开始时（前测）将调查转发给学生。在理论教育结束时（后测），通过电子邮件向学生发送后续调查。该调查由与 EI 的 4 个分量表相关的 33 个项目组成。收集了参与者的年龄、性别和之前的医疗保健经验。对每个 EI 综合评分进行了 5 次重复测量方差分析。在预测试分数和之前建立的 EI 平均值之间进行了独立样本 t 检验。
共邀请了 192 名一年级学生。有 68 名（16 名男性；52 名女性）作为参与者。由于样本大小不平衡，没有得到性别或年龄的结果。在总 EI 和管理他人情绪分量表方面取得了显著结果。
有超过一次医疗保健经验的参与者在前测中表现出明显较高的情绪智力。有一次医疗保健经验的参与者在总 EI 和管理他人情绪分量表方面表现出显著增加。该研究的主要限制是参与者在测量之间的流失。未来的研究需要评估临床年后、临床经验后的 EI，并确定哪些教育活动最有可能增强 EI。
