Relationships of nursing stress and trait emotional intelligence with mental health in neonatal intensive care unit nurses: A cross-sectional correlational study.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a stressful and emotionally laden environment, but the relationships between nursing stress, emotional intelligence, and mental health have not been studied in NICU nurses. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to determine (i) whether nursing stress and trait emotional intelligence controlled for the five-factor model of personality predict mental health in NICU nurses and (ii) whether trait emotional intelligence buffers the effect of nursing stress on mental health. METHODS: A cross-sectional correlational study in 123 (28%) of 440 eligible NICU nurses using self-report questionnaire measures of nursing stress (Nursing Stress Scale), trait emotional intelligence (Assessing Emotions Scale), and psychological distress and emotional well-being (Mental Health Inventory). The data were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression and moderation analyses. RESULTS: The hierarchical multiple regressions showed nursing stress predicted psychological distress (ΔR2 = .11) and emotional well-being (ΔR2 = .10) at Step 1. The five-factor model of personality explained further variance in psychological distress (ΔR2 = .27) and emotional well-being (ΔR2 = .26) at Step 2. Finally, trait emotional intelligence predicted further increments in psychological distress (ΔR2 = .05) and emotional well-being (ΔR2 = .08) at Step 3. The optimism (expecting good things to occur in one's life) and mood regulation (dampening, repairing and maintaining emotions) subdimension of trait emotional intelligence predicted psychological distress (ß = -.29) and emotional well-being (ß = .41) in the final models of the hierarchical multiple regressions. Trait emotional intelligence did not moderate the effect of nursing stress on psychological distress or emotional well-being. CONCLUSIONS: NICU managers and educators should seek to remedy controllable work-related stressors and support NICU nurses' emotional competence because these respective environmental and personal factors predict mental health in these nurses.