Emotional intelligence and spiritual well-being: implications for spiritual care.

Understanding factors that influence spiritual well-being may improve nurses' spiritual caregiving. This study examined relationships between emotional intelligence (EI) and spiritual well-being (SWB) in undergraduate and graduate nursing students. Using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and the spiritual well-being scale (SWBS) relationships were found between managing emotion and spiritual well-being, and managing emotion and existential well-being. Implications for education and practice are discussed.

Factors related to academic success among nursing students: a descriptive correlational research study.

BACKGROUND: The current rise in employment is improving forecasts for the future supply of registered nurses; however sizeable shortages are still projected. With the intention of improving academic success in nursing students, related factors need to be better understood. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the correlational study was to describe the relationship between emotional intelligence, psychological empowerment, resilience, spiritual well-being, and academic success in undergraduate and graduate nursing students. DESIGN/SETTING: A descriptive correlational design was utilized. The study was set in a private Catholic university. PARTICIPANTS: There were 124 participants. There were 59% undergraduate and 41% graduate students. METHODS: Background data, in addition to the Spreitzer Psychological Empowerment Scale, the Wagnild and Young Resilience Scale, and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale and the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, was collected from students who met study criteria. RESULTS: In a combined sample, academic success was correlated with overall spiritual well-being, empowerment and resilience. Although academic success was not correlated with overall emotional intelligence, it was correlated with the emotional intelligence branch four (managing emotions) score. When undergraduate and graduate students were considered separately, only one correlation was found to be significantly related to academic success in the undergraduate sample, namely, emotional intelligence branch one (perceiving emotions). When examining the data from just graduate level nurses, significant relationships were found between total emotional intelligence with academic success, resilience with academic success, and psychological empowerment with academic success. CONCLUSION: The significant relationship between psychological empowerment, resilience, spiritual well-being and academic success in this study supports the statements in the literature that these concepts may play an important role in persistence through the challenges of nursing education. Research is needed to examine if strategies to enhance empowerment, resilience, and spiritual well-being can increase academic success in a test-retest design.

Exploring the relationship between resilience and diabetes outcomes in African Americans.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this descriptive, correlational study is to describe the relationship between resilience scores and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels in African-American women with type 2 diabetes. DATA SOURCES: Demographic data were collected from a voluntary sample of 71 African-American women who received care for type 2 diabetes at a federally qualified health center in southern Connecticut. The Wagnild and Young Resilience Scale was used to measure resilience scores in each participant. HbA1c levels were obtained at time of enrollment in the study. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of the women were resilient with over half the sample scoring in the high resilience range. Only nine participants had resilience scores that were considered low. Interestingly, HbA1c levels and resilience scores had a significant negative correlation, as individuals scored high on the resilience scale, HbA1c levels went down, suggesting that resilience may influence glycemic control in this sample. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Nurse practitioners (NPs) have an opportunity to consider resilience in the care of minority populations with a chronic illness such as type 2 diabetes. High levels of resilience were significantly related to lower HbA1c levels indicating better glycemic control. Clinical implications based on the findings of this study included preventing complications of poorly controlled diabetes. NPs need to recognize holistic approaches to care that integrate not only the physiological aspects of care but also the psychological aspect of the person, including interventions to help build individual resilience.