The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Social Work Students and Its Relation to Perceived Efficacy

Social workers have a greater than average risk of suffering burnout syndrome. In the same way as the professionals, students too can suffer academic burnout. However, few empirical studies have studied burnout and protective factors in social work students exclusively. Emotional intelligence (EI) has been described as a protective factor for burnout both in the professional and the academic context. The present study aims to explore which components of EI predict the burnout domains in students studying a degree in social work, in Spain. To this end, 87 social work students completed a questionnaire in which information was gathered on EI, burnout, average grade in the degree, and sociodemographic variables. The regression analysis results indicate that the students with poorer academic success and from higher years reported greater symptoms of burnout. Regarding the components of EI, emotional clarity and emotional repair predict the academic efficacy perceived by the students. These results highlight the importance of including EI in academic policies to promote the design of EI training programs aimed at developing EI skills, particularly emotional clarity and emotional repair, as a way of improving the perception of efficacy in social work students.