Mediating effects of emotional intelligence on the relationship between empathy and humanistic care ability in nursing students: A cross-sectional descriptive study

Abstract

Patient-centered nursing holistic care is of utmost important to the nursing profession, and humanistic care cultivation has become a global nursing education concern. This study aimed to examine the relationship among emotional intelligence, empathy and humanistic care ability in nursing students, and to determine whether positive emotional intelligence could mediate the relationship between empathy and humanistic care ability. This study used a cross-sectional, descriptive design. A total of 323 nursing students was enrolled from one medical university in Heilongjiang Province, China. The emotional intelligence questionnaires, empathy scale and humanistic care ability scale were used to quantify participants’ responses. There was no significant difference in gender, residence, single-child family and leader experience of nursing students’ humanistic care ability. However, the significant differences were found in grade (t = 4.55, P < .01) and major interests (t = 7.06, P < .01). Obviously, there was positive correlation between positive emotional intelligence and empathy (R = 0.37, P < .01), and positive correlation between humanistic care ability and emotional intelligence (R = 0.62, P < .01), and empathy (R = 0.57, P < .01). Furthermore, emotional intelligence (β = 0.21, P < .01) had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between humanistic care ability and empathy. Nurse educators should improve the empathy of nursing students by developing and implementing emotional intelligence programs, in order to improve their humanistic care ability.

Associations among emotional intelligence, resilience and humanistic caring ability in nursing postgraduates: A response surface analysis and moderated mediation model

“…The ndings indicated that the HCA in nursing postgraduates was poor, which may be related to the current lack of systematic and coherent courses on HCA in nursing education in China. (28) Compared to the studies focusing on undergraduates, the nding was higher than the results acquired by Lina (29) but lower than the ndings of the study conducted by Li. (30) Furthermore, the outcomes of this research showed no signi cant difference in the level of HCA in different grades.…”

“…In summary, existing studies indicate that EI is correlated to resilience and HCA in Chinese nursing students. (16,19) However, the relationship between resilience and HCA is unclear, and studies exploring the relationship between EI, resilience, and HCA in Chinese nursing postgraduates are still scarce. Therefore, this study proposed the following three hypotheses:…”

The chain mediating effect of empathy and communication ability on emotional intelligence and caring ability of nursing students

“…The empathy and communication ability may have some mediating effect between caring ability and emotional intelligence ( Wang et al, 2020 ; Li et al, 2021a ; Lina et al, 2022 ). However, the exact mediating relationship and internal mechanism of such factors have not been fully understood.…”

The impact of work environment on caring behavior among Chinese hospice nurses: the chain mediating effect of psychological capital and empathy

“…Nurses can also feel happiness and satisfaction while working, which reduces emotional exhaustion and improves empathy ( Liu et al, 2014 ). Furthermore, empathy is positively correlated with caring behavior ( Lina et al, 2022 ). When nurses have empathy, they experience their psychological processes from the patient’s perspective, accurately assess their emotional needs, and provide humanistic care.…”