Relationship of Spiritual well-being and emotional intelligence among Iranian' nursing students

Background: Among all aspects of nursing care, the spiritual one is the issue that has received little attention. Having spiritual wellbeing (SWB) is a necessity to provide appropriate spiritual care. In addition to, the Emotional intelligence (El) is one of the most important factors in social and professional success and is essential for effective nursing practice. Therefore, aim of study was evaluating the Relationship between SWB and El among nursing students. Methods: The sample of this descriptive-analytic study consisted of 136 nursing students studying at Bam University of Medical Sciences selected by convenience sampling method. The Bradberry and Greaves 28-item El scale, Palutzian and Ellison SWB Scale were used to assess the total score of El and SWB. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA with SPSS v18. Results: The mean score of SWB and El were 97.1 +/- 11.56 and 123.4 + 123.6, respectively. The mean score dimensions of SWB include (religious wellbeing 47.9 +/- 6.6, existential wellbeing 49.1 +/- 5.7) and dimensions El: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management were 27.2 3 3.2, 36.2 2 5.4, 25.1 + 3.5 and 35.1 + 4.5, respectively. The majority of students have reported moderate level SWB and high level of emotional intelligence. The factors influencing their level of SWB were academic semester and age (p<0.05). Conclusion: Although the level of students' El and SWB were at a desirable level in this study, due to the nature of nursing and the interaction between nurses and patients, providing a suitable learning environment for the development of El is essential. Therefore, it is suggested that nursing policymakers should develop appropriate educational programs for nurses and provide curriculum for students to promote their knowledge and skills.