Nurses' attitudes towards artificial intelligence: relationship between cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation

Today, rapidly advancing artificial intelligence technologies provide significant changes in the health field. These technologies, which have a wide range of applications in nursing practices, enhance the quality of healthcare and make the care process more efficient. Therefore, nurses' attitudes towards artificial intelligence and the effective use and adoption of these technologies in patient care are significant. In this study, two hypotheses were tested: (1) whether cognitive flexibility is associated with positive/negative attitudes toward artificial intelligence, and (2) whether emotion regulation is associated with positive/negative attitudes toward artificial intelligence.

This study employed a correlational and cross-sectional research design. It was completed with 377 nurses working in a province in the East of Turkey who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected using the Introductory Information Form, Attitude Towards Artificial Intelligence Scale, Cognitive Flexibility Inventory, and Emotion Regulation Scale. These measurement tools were administered to the nurses using the face-to-face interview method. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the data.

As a result of the multiple regression analyses conducted, it was found that cognitive flexibility and reappraisal together were associated with 7% of the variance in positive attitudes toward artificial intelligence (F_{(2, 374)} = 12.961, p < 0.001), while they explained 4% of the variance in negative attitudes (F_{(2, 374)} = 7.098, p < 0.001). In both of the tested models, reappraisal was found to be significantly associated with the attitudes, whereas cognitive flexibility was not.

The study concludes that nurses' emotional regulation skills play an important role in shaping their attitudes toward artificial intelligence, while cognitive flexibility does not contribute significantly. Nurses with higher emotional regulation skills tend to report a more positive attitude toward artificial intelligence. In this respect, education and awareness programs prioritizing the improvement of these skills in nurses may contribute to the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies.