COPING BEHAVIOR AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AMONG HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN THE CONTEXT OF WORK STRESS
Published 11/14/2024
Keywords
- work stress,
- health professionals,
- coping behavior,
- emotional intelligence
How to Cite
Copyright (c) 2024 Psychological Research (in the Balkans)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The article prezents the initial results of a conducted study aimed at tracking the relationship between coping behavior and emotional intelligence among healthcare professionals under conditions of work stress. In Bulgaria it‘s insufficiently studied among this professional group. A solid understanding of this issue is crucial for developing effective stress management programs.
Sample and Methods. An online survey was carried out through Google Forms among 127 health professionals from medical institutions in the city of Sofia in period 01.09. - 01.12.2023. The main criterion for the selection of the subjects in this study is their voluntary willingness to participate.
The following methods were used: Documentary method; Survey method; Questionnaire to assess preferred strate- gies for coping with stress - COPE Questionnaire (Carver et al., 1989); Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form (Petrdes and Furnham2001); Statistical methods.
Results. In analyzing the EI traits, which was the most significant in the selection of adaptive strategies, stand out: the sense of well-being, self-control and sociability. The initial results shows that higher emotional intelligence of medical specialists was related to adaptive stress coping strategies. The age positively correlates with the Seeking social support and Behavioral decision planning.
Conclusions. The results of a detailed study of health professionals‘ individual coping resources and the level of EI as a basis for adaptive coping with stress woud be useful to developing effective models for managing stress at the personal and organizational level among health professionals.
References
- Alexandrova, M. (2011). Burnout - a topical issue for human resource management in healthcare. In: Innovations in Public Health, рр.45-55. (in Bulgarian).
- Amirkhan J.H. (1990). Factоr analiticaly drived measure оf cоing: the strategy indicatоr. J. оf Рersоnality and Sоcial Рsychоlоgy, v. 59, pр. 1066–1074.
- Bar-On, R. (2004). The Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i): Rationale, description, and summary of psychometric properties. In Glenn Geher (Ed.), Measuring emotional intelligence: Common ground and controversy. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, pp. 111-142.
- Bar-On, R. (2006). The Bar-On model of emotional-social intelligence (ESI). Psicothema, 18, supl., 13-25.
- Carver, C., M. Scheier & Weintraub, J. (1989) Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. /Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(2), 267–283.
- Cohen, S., Kamarck T. & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 24, 385-396.
- Emmerling, R.J., & Goleman, D. (2003). Emotional intelligence: issues and common misunderstandings. Issues in Emotional Intelligence -1(1) - www.eiconsortium.org
- Folkman, S. & Lazarus, R. S. (1980) An analsyis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21(3), рр. 219– 239.
- Folkman, S. (1984) Personal control and stress and coping processes: A teoritikal analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 47 N-1.
- Georgieva, I., E. Karaslavova, D. Todorov (2008). The professional exhaustion of pre-medical nurses working in the clinic of children and genetic diseases at the University Hospital "St. Petersburg". Georgi" - Plovdiv; Nursing, 40, № 3, pp. 3-74. (in Bulgarian).
- Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
- Kardasheva, A. (2015). Emotional intelligence as a type of communication. Rhetoric and communications, issue 17, published in: electronic scientific journal ISSN 1314 4464; http://rhetoric.bg/2015. Accessed on [2024-04-10]. (in Bulgarian).
- Lazarus, R. (1999) Stress and Emotion. A new Syntesis. NY , Springer Publishing Company Inc.
- Lazarus, R. S. (1966) Psychologycal stress and coping process. New York: McGraw – Hill.
- Lazarus, R. S. (1991) Progress on a cognitive motivational - relational theory of emotion. American Psychologist, 46, pp. 819– 837.
- Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and Adaptation. Oxford, Oxsfort Universuty Press.
- Lazarus, R., Folkman, S. (1984) Stress, appraisal and coping. New York: Springer Publishing Company Inc.
- Lazarus, R. S. & Folkman, S. (1984) Stress, appraisal and coping. New York: Springer.
- Lazarus R.S., Kanner A.D., Fоlkman S. Emоtiоns: a cоgnitive рhenоmenоlоgical analysis // Emоtiоn. Theоry, Research and Exрerience. V. 1, N.Y., 1980, p. 185–217.
- Marinova P., P. Dobrilova, K. Stefanova (2010). Burnout syndrome and its factors in intensive care units; Journal of Nursing. Medical Meridians, 2, рр. 22-27. (in Bulgarian).
- Mayer, J.D., &Salovey, P. (1993). The intelligence of emotional intelligence„, intelligence, 12, 433-422.
- Peev V., Sources of occupational stress (stressors) , Modern Medical Science, no. 1, 2018. (in Bulgarian).
- Peev V., Prevention and coping with occupational stress, Medinfo, no. 1, 2019. (in Bulgarian).
- Petrides, K. V., Pita, R., &Kokkinaki, F. (2007). The location of trait emotional intelligence in personality factor space. British Journal of Psychology, 98, 273–289. Available at http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.476.8331&rep=rep1&type=pdf
- Petrides, K.V, Furnham, A.(2000). On the dimensional structure of emotional intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences 29 (2000) 313±320, Department of Psychology, University College London.
- Petrides, K. V. (2009). Psychometric properties of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire. In C. Stough, D. H. Saklofske, and J. D. Parker, Advances in the assessment of emotional intelligence. New York: Springer. Doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-88370-0_5 [pdf]
- Rusinova-Hristova, A., Karastoyanov, G., (2000), Jungian Psychological Types and Stress, ed. National Education, Sofia (in Bulgarian).
- Russinova, V., Vassileva, L., Zhilova, S. (1997). Assessment of occupational stress in work activities. - In Proceedings: 25 years Institute of Psychology. Jubilee proceedings. Edited by. В. Russinova, S, Acad. ed. "M. Drinov, 134-147, Bulgarian Journal of Psychology, 2, 77-85. ISSN0861-7813. (in Bulgarian).
- Russinova, V., Vasileva, L., Zhiliova, S. (2008). Analysis of coping strategies in different professional groups. In: Stojilkovic, Nesic, Markovic (Editors) Licnost, Profesia i obrazovanie. Zbornik radova, Universitet u Nisu, Nis, 2008, pp.89-98. ISBN 987-86-7379-169-2.
- Salovey, P., & Mayer, J.D. (1990). Emotional intelligence„, Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9:рр. 185-211.
- Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Simunek, M., Hollander, S., &McKenley, J. (2002).Characteristic emotional intelligence and emotional well-being. Cognition and Emotion, 16,рр. 769–786.
- Skarbalienė, А. (2019) Emotional intelligence in healthcare. Medical Science Pulse 2019 (13) 1, 40-42.
- Tzenova, B. (2002), Basic approaches to dealing with burnout - syndrome and stress in nurses, Social Medicine, 1/2002, рр.23-24. (in Bulgarian).
- Tzenova, B. (2003), Specific approaches to dealing with burnout - syndrome and stress in nurses, Social Medicine, 2/2003, рр. 33-35. (in Bulgarian).
- Vassileva, L. (1996). Occupational stress profile in doctors and nurses. In. The challenges of stress. In. D. Peicheva, S., ME "St. George the Victorious”, рр.96-105. (in Bulgarian).