Educational interventions to enhance emotional intelligence among nurses: A scoping review.

Background

Emotional intelligence plays a central role in the emotionally and socially demanding work of nurses, where compassionate and person-centred interaction is essential. As healthcare settings increasingly require advanced interpersonal and self-regulatory competence, emotional intelligence has become increasingly important in healthcare education. Existing evidence on related educational interventions, especially their educational content, remains limited and fragmented.

Aim

To summarise existing research knowledge on educational interventions designed to develop the emotional intelligence competence of nurses, and to identify the competence areas and content included in these interventions.

Design

A scoping review. DATA SOURCES A systematic search was conducted on CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, APA PsycArticles, Web of Science, Medic, ProQuest and MedNar.

Methods

This study was conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines and reported following the PRISMA-ScR framework. The Population, Concept, and Context (PCC) framework guided the search strategy. Each title, abstract, and full text was screened by two independent reviewers. Data were charted in relation to the review questions and synthesised narratively.

Results

Emotional-intelligence educational interventions varied widely in type, duration, and delivery. Education ranged from single sessions to year-long programmes and was most commonly delivered face-to-face, although online and workplace-based learning environments were also used. Analysis of intervention content identified seven recurring competence areas: emotional intelligence fundamentals, emotional awareness, emotion regulation, empathy, communication, reflection and well-being.

Discussion

Emotional intelligence educational interventions for nurses, address several competence areas central to person-centred and compassionate care, including emotional awareness, emotion regulation, empathy, communication, reflection and well-being. However, the interventions vary considerably in design, delivery and reporting, which limits comparison and synthesis of evidence. Future research should focus on developing clearly described, theory-informed interventions and using consistent evaluation methods to strengthen the evidence base for emotional intelligence education in healthcare.