Emotional intelligence and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms among clinical nurses: a cross-sectional network...

Clinical nurses are at risk of depression, anxiety, and stress because of high work demands and sustained emotional labor. Emotional intelligence may be related to these negative affective symptoms, but the symptom-level links between emotional intelligence dimensions and specific symptoms remain unclear.

This cross-sectional study recruited clinical nurses from hospitals in Southwest China between January 2021 and March 2022 using convenience sampling. A total of 704 clinical nurses were included. Emotional intelligence was assessed using the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS), and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms were assessed using the simplified Chinese version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). A Gaussian graphical model was estimated using EBICglasso. Expected influence and bridge expected influence were used to identify central and bridge nodes. Network stability, exploratory subgroup differences by patient aggression experience and psychiatric versus non-psychiatric nursing status, and robustness in sensitivity analyses separately adjusting for age and years of work experience were examined.

The three largest absolute cross-community edge weights were ROE ("Regulation of emotion")-DASS_18 ("I felt that I was rather touchy"), UOE ("Use of emotion")-DASS_16 ("I was unable to become enthusiastic about anything"), and ROE-DASS_09 ("I was worried about situations in which I might panic and make a fool of myself"). Among the 21 DASS-21 symptom nodes, DASS_11 ("I found myself getting agitated") had the highest expected influence, whereas among the four WLEIS dimension nodes, ROE had the largest absolute bridge expected influence. The main cross-community edges, central nodes, and bridge nodes remained largely stable after separate adjustment for age and years of work experience.

Associations between emotional intelligence and negative affective symptoms were concentrated in specific nodes. DASS_11 may be a key central symptom, and ROE may be an important bridge linking emotional intelligence with depression, anxiety, and stress. These findings warrant further investigation in longitudinal and intervention studies.