Emotional Intelligence Development in Radiography Curricula: Results of an International Longitudinal Study

This article presents the findings from the first 3 years of a longitudinal study following a cohort of radiography and radiotherapy students through their qualification programs. The aim was to demonstrate any changes in emotional intelligence (EI) and to clarify the timing of any changes.

This was an international, longitudinal cohort study of student radiographers undertaking preregistration programs at four different higher education institutions. It was a survey design using a published and validated trait EI questionnaire. A mixed analysis of variance (Greenhouse-Geissler methods) was used with age and gender included in the models, as these were considered possible confounding factors. Sensitivity analysis was also applied because responses gradually reduced throughout the years.

Across the 3 years of the project, there were no statistically significant differences demonstrated in students' EI scores between countries or between years. The mean scores per year over time showed a small, but not statistically significant change within the second year of the study, when there was a slight fall in the mean scores. The sensitivity analysis showed that the characteristics of the questionnaire completer group was not significantly different to the noncompleter group.

EI was not seen to change during the non-explicit EI content curricula within this study. The robustness of this finding falls away in the latter stages of this longitudinal study. Further research is recommended in curricula with explicit EI content. This study has provided a valuable benchmark for pre-explicit EI curricula.