Emotional Intelligence and Professional Boredom among Nursing Personnel in Greece

Occupational (professional) boredom results in low performance at work. It has been positively associated with high levels of anxiety and depression as well as premature death. However, occupational boredom has not been extensively studied among working nurses. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and occupational boredom in nurses working in both public (52.9%) and private (47.1%) health units in Greece. A cross-sectional study was conducted among a convenience sample of 189 nurses (84.7% females) with an average age of 40 years. Emotional intelligence was evaluated with the use of The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form and Professional boredom was assessed with the use of the Boredom Proneness Scale. The majority of Nurses showed relatively high values of total Emotional Intelligence (EI), and marginally low values of overall Professional Boredom. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between the overall Professional Boredom of Nurses and the Well-being, Self-control, Emotionality and Sociability subscales of EI, as well as total EI (p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analyses showed that the three dimensions of EI (Well-being, Self-Control and Emotionality) explained 39.0% of the variability of the total Professional Boredom of the working Nurses.