Nurturing yourself and each other: The value of emotional intelligence

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Emotional intelligence refers to the individual's capacity to identify, use, understand and respond appropriately to emotions in themselves and others. The nursing and midwifery literature recommends emotional intelligence as an important construct for enhancing well-being amongst nurses and midwives. Despite this, how nursing and midwifery students perceive emotional intelligence is not well understood. Emotional intelligence capabilities are seen as fundamental to the student nurse or midwifes' ability to negotiate the emotional complexities of clinical practice as well as support their own emotional well-being.<br/> <b>Objective:</b> The study aimed to explore final year undergraduate nursing and midwifery students’ perceptions of emotional intelligence.