The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Burnout Among Critical Care Nurses: A Study From Jordan

Critical care nurses experience high levels of burnout compared to other nurses, due to daily exposure to extremely stressful situations, critically ill patients, and high workload. Emotional intelligence (EI) is considered a protective factor against burnout. There is a dearth of literature on the association between these 2 variables among critical care nurses including those in Jordan. To explore the relationship between EI and burnout among critical care nurses in Jordan, a descriptive, cross-sectional, and correlational design was used. A convenience sample of 284 critical care nurses working in Jordanian governmental hospitals was recruited. Data were collected using Maslach burnout inventory to assess burnout level, and Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory (concise version) to assess EI level. Nurses' burnout level was moderate with respect to emotional exhaustion (44.5%), while high burnout was reported for depersonalization (66.9%) and low personal accomplishment (48.4%). In terms of hierarchical regression analysis, emotional exhaustion was predicted negatively as a function of working hours, other marital status group, and emotional intelligence, with 26.2% of variance explained, and similar results were observed in depersonalization burnout with 15.5% of variance explained. Finally, EI alone had a positive impact on personal accomplishment with 38.8% of variance in personal accomplishment explained by nurses' emotional intelligence. This study showed a negative and significant correlation between EI and burnout levels among nurses in critical care units in Jordan. Starting to prepare nurses to be emotionally competent is highly recommended to reduce their burnout.