Emotional competence in professional communication.

This paper explores the notion of emotional competence for professional practitioners and the impact of different levels of emotional competence on communication in mental health nursing practice. It comments on available approaches to assessing competence in this area and on factors that obstruct and impair such assessment. Practitioner awareness of both the concept of emotional competence and its assessment is examined at a professional and personal level. Strategies for the achievement and maintenance of effective communication and emotionally competent professional practice are proposed.