The relationship of emotional intelligence to burnout and related factors in healthcare profession students.

BACKGROUND

High prevalence of burnout amongst healthcare profession students results in detrimental effects on academic performance, mental health, and quality of life. Emotional intelligence is a trainable skillset demonstrated to protect against burnout, improve psychological well-being, and decrease anxiety and stress, yet it lacks standardized inclusion in many healthcare profession program curricula.

OBJECTIVES

To explore the utility of emotional intelligence as a tool for burnout mitigation, this study aimed to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and burnout in an interprofessional sample of healthcare profession students and identify related variables.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey study.

SETTINGS

Data was collected over 14 weeks in the fall of 2022 via a nationally distributed online survey.

PARTICIPANTS

147 healthcare profession students from the following professional or doctoral programs: Master of Science in Athletic Training (ATC), Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), Master of Science in or Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OT/OTD), Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP), Doctor of Medicine (MD), Physician Assistant Studies (PA-S), Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN), or Nurse Practitioner Studies (NP).

METHODS

Participants completed a demographics form (personal/school related variables including prior education and mindfulness habits), the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF), Oldenberg Burnout Inventory-Student (OLBI-S), and RU-SATED sleep health scale.

RESULTS

A large negative correlation was noted between emotional intelligence and burnout (r = -0.591, p < .001). Emotional intelligence and age were significant predictors of burnout. Previous emotional intelligence learning and mindfulness practice also demonstrated significant differences in emotional intelligence.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that greater emotional intelligence may have a positive impact on burnout and wellbeing in healthcare profession students. Educational interventions aimed to improve emotional intelligence should be explored for inclusion in healthcare profession educational program curricula.