The relationship between emotional intelligence, previous caring experience and successful completion of a pre-registration nursing/midwifery degree.

AIM: To examine the relationship between baseline emotional intelligence and prior caring experience with completion of pre-registration nurse and midwifery education. BACKGROUND: Selection and retention of nursing students is a global challenge. Emotional intelligence is well-conceptualized, measurable and an intuitive prerequisite to nursing values and so might be a useful selection criterion. Previous caring experience may also be associated with successful completion of nurse training. DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal study. METHOD: Self-report trait and ability emotional intelligence scores were obtained from 876 student nurses from two Scottish Universities before they began training in 2013. Data on previous caring experience were recorded. Relationships between these metrics and successful completion of the course were calculated in SPSS version 23. RESULTS: Nurses completing their programme scored significantly higher on trait emotional intelligence than those that did not complete their programme. Nurses completing their programme also scored significantly higher on social connection scores than those that did not. There was no relationship between "ability" emotional intelligence and completion. Previous caring experience was not statistically significantly related to completion. CONCLUSION: Students with higher baseline trait emotional intelligence scores were statistically more likely to complete training than those with lower scores. This relationship also held using "Social connection" scores. At best, previous caring experience made no difference to students' chances of completing training. Caution is urged when interpreting these results because the headline findings mask considerable heterogeneity. Neither previous caring experience or global emotional intelligence measures should be used in isolation to recruit nurses.

Do emotional intelligence and previous caring experience influence student nurse performance? A comparative analysis.

BACKGROUND: Reports of poor nursing care have focused attention on values based selection of candidates onto nursing programmes. Values based selection lacks clarity and valid measures. Previous caring experience might lead to better care. Emotional intelligence (EI) might be associated with performance, is conceptualised and measurable. OBJECTIVES: To examine the impact of 1) previous caring experience, 2) emotional intelligence 3) social connection scores on performance and retention in a cohort of first year nursing and midwifery students in Scotland. DESIGN: A longitudinal, quasi experimental design. SETTING: Adult and mental health nursing, and midwifery programmes in a Scottish University. METHODS: Adult, mental health and midwifery students (n=598) completed the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-short form and Schutte's Emotional Intelligence Scale on entry to their programmes at a Scottish University, alongside demographic and previous caring experience data. Social connection was calculated from a subset of questions identified within the TEIQue-SF in a prior factor and Rasch analysis. Student performance was calculated as the mean mark across the year. Withdrawal data were gathered. RESULTS: 598 students completed baseline measures. 315 students declared previous caring experience, 277 not. An independent-samples t-test identified that those without previous caring experience scored higher on performance (57.33±11.38) than those with previous caring experience (54.87±11.19), a statistically significant difference of 2.47 (95% CI, 0.54 to 4.38), t(533)=2.52, p=.012. Emotional intelligence scores were not associated with performance. Social connection scores for those withdrawing (mean rank=249) and those remaining (mean rank=304.75) were statistically significantly different, U=15,300, z=-2.61, p$_amp_$lt;0.009. CONCLUSIONS: Previous caring experience led to worse performance in this cohort. Emotional intelligence was not a useful indicator of performance. Lower scores on the social connection factor were associated with withdrawal from the course.

Not just ticking all the boxes. Problem based learning and mental health nursing. A review.

BACKGROUND: The practice and policy of mental health nursing are changing. Integration of health and social care, an increased emphasis on wellness and recovery and greater expectation of involvement from both service users and carers require competence in both group and interpersonal working. The active and dynamic processes of problem based learning provide the ideal environment to achieve proficiency in these skills. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this review was to understand those programme elements that best support the delivery of a problem based learning module. DATA SOURCES: This study utilised a standard module evaluation. REVIEW METHODS: A systematic analysis of completed module evaluations allowed key themes to be established. RESULTS: Problem based learning helps develop the skills and attributes that mental health nursing need in an increasing collaborative and wellness focused practice environment. Successful integration of PBL is more likely to occur when student centred approaches are already incorporated within a programme. Creating the right conditions for learning are key to successful facilitation of PBL groups. CONCLUSIONS: Successful implementation of PBL requires identification of relevance to practice by students, a programme approach that is compatible with the aims and philosophy of PBL and a form of facilitation that encourages development of student autonomy.

The relationship between emotional intelligence, previous caring experience and mindfulness in student nurses and midwives: a cross sectional analysis.

BACKGROUND: Emotional Intelligence (EI), previous caring experience and mindfulness training may have a positive impact on nurse education. More evidence is needed to support the use of these variables in nurse recruitment and retention. OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between EI, gender, age, programme of study, previous caring experience and mindfulness training. DESIGN: Cross sectional element of longitudinal study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: 938year one nursing, midwifery and computing students at two Scottish Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) who entered their programme in September 2013. DATA: Participants completed a measure of 'trait' EI: Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form (TEIQue-SF); and 'ability' EI: Schutte's et al. (1998) Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS). Demographics, previous caring experience and previous training in mindfulness were recorded. METHODS: Relationships between variables were tested using non-parametric tests. RESULTS: Emotional intelligence increased with age on both measures of EI [TEIQ-SF H(5)=15.157 p=0.001; SEIS H(5)=11.388, p=0.044]. Females (n=786) scored higher than males (n=149) on both measures [TEIQ-SF, U=44,931, z=-4.509, p<.001; SEIS, U=44,744, z=-5.563, p<.001]. Nursing students scored higher that computing students [TEIQ-SF H(5)=46,496, p<.001; SEIS H(5)=33.309, p<0.001. There were no statistically significant differences in TEIQ-SF scores between those who had previous mindfulness training (n=50) and those who had not (n=857) [U=22,980, z=0.864, p = 0.388]. However, median SEIS was statistically significantly different according to mindfulness training [U=25,115.5, z=2.05, p=.039]. Neither measure demonstrated statistically significantly differences between those with (n=492) and without (n=479) previous caring experience, [TEIQ-SF, U=112, 102, z=0.938, p=.348; SEIS, U=115,194.5, z=1.863, p=0.063]. CONCLUSIONS: Previous caring experience was not associated with higher emotional intelligence. Mindfulness training was associated with higher 'ability' emotional intelligence. Implications for recruitment, retention and further research are explored.

Substituent effects on edge-to-face aromatic interactions.

Chemical double mutant cycles have been used to measure the magnitude of edge-to-face aromatic interactions in hydrogen-bonded zipper complexes as a function of substituents on both aromatic rings. The interaction energies vary depending on the combination of substituents from +1.0 kJ mol-1 (repulsive), to -4.9 kJ mol-1 (attractive). The results correlate with the Hammett substituent constants which indicates that electrostatic interactions are responsible for the observed differences in interaction energy. The experiments can be rationalised based on local electrostatic interactions between the protons on the edge ring and the pi-electron density on the face ring as well as global electrostatic interactions between the overall dipoles on the two aromatic groups.