Do emotional intelligence and previous caring experience influence student nurse performance? A comparative analysis

Highlights

• Previous caring experience was associated with poorer performance.

• Emotional intelligence scores did not correlate with first year performance.

• Social Connection scores are related to withdrawals from the programme.

Abstract

Background

Reports of poor nursing care have focused attention on values based selection of candidates onto nursing programmes. Values based selection lacks clarity and valid measures. Previous caring experience might lead to better care. Emotional intelligence (EI) might be associated with performance, is conceptualised and measurable.

Objectives

To examine the impact of 1) previous caring experience, 2) emotional intelligence 3) social connection scores on performance and retention in a cohort of first year nursing and midwifery students in Scotland.

Design

A longitudinal, quasi experimental design.

Setting

Adult and mental health nursing, and midwifery programmes in a Scottish University.

Methods

Adult, mental health and midwifery students (n = 598) completed the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-short form and Schutte's Emotional Intelligence Scale on entry to their programmes at a Scottish University, alongside demographic and previous caring experience data. Social connection was calculated from a subset of questions identified within the TEIQue-SF in a prior factor and Rasch analysis. Student performance was calculated as the mean mark across the year. Withdrawal data were gathered.

Results

598 students completed baseline measures. 315 students declared previous caring experience, 277 not. An independent-samples t-test identified that those without previous caring experience scored higher on performance (57.33 ± 11.38) than those with previous caring experience (54.87 ± 11.19), a statistically significant difference of 2.47 (95% CI, 0.54 to 4.38), t(533) = 2.52, p = .012. Emotional intelligence scores were not associated with performance. Social connection scores for those withdrawing (mean rank = 249) and those remaining (mean rank = 304.75) were statistically significantly different, U = 15,300, z = − 2.61, p $_amp_$lt; 0.009.

Conclusions

Previous caring experience led to worse performance in this cohort. Emotional intelligence was not a useful indicator of performance. Lower scores on the social connection factor were associated with withdrawal from the course.

Introduction

The findings of the Mid Staffordshire Inquiry (Francis, 2013) can be understood as the catalyst for a renewed focus on values in nursing, one which was already in nursing's psyche following a number of previous reports into nursing care (cf Abraham, 2011, Mental Welfare Commission Scotland, 2011, Department of Health, 2012a; BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20427441; Telegraph 27/8/09 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/6101395/Poor-nursing-care-must-not-be-tolerated.html). However, the Francis (2013) report, its length and depth and the extent of the issues that were unearthed in relation to the provision of care at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust created a political backlash that landed much of the responsibility for improvement at nurse education's door. Francis' (2013) call for the development of an aptitude test for selection onto pre-registration nursing programmes has increased the focus on values based selection (Department of Health at http://francisresponse.dh.gov.uk/recommendations/191/). His recommendations also underpin the development of pre-nursing experience pilots by Health Education England (https://hee.nhs.uk/our-work/developing-our-workforce/nursing/pre-nursing-experience-pilots) predicated on the assumption that experience of working in ‘frontline health care’ prior to entering nurse education would lead to more caring and compassionate nurses.

A Department of Health review of recruitment and selection onto pre-registration nursing and midwifery programmes identifies that the NHS values (dignity, respect and non-discrimination) are central to good experiences of health care (DH, 2012b). The report goes on to state that “it is therefore important that the future education system enables initial entrants to healthcare to possess these values intrinsically and that these values are nurtured and maintained throughout their careers both in University education and Registered Professionals…” (DH, 2012b: 8). It is unclear from this statement whether it is envisaged that healthcare students should possess these values intrinsically on entry; the political desire within the UK to instigate values based selection of nursing and midwifery students onto pre-registration programmes, and the development of the pre-nursing experience pilots would indicate that this is the case. Thus there is an assumption that if you select the people with the right values into nurse education you will produce ‘better’ nurses; ones who are more compassionate and caring and will therefore prevent further catastrophic failures of care.

However, whilst there has been some work in relation to how values based selection might be undertaken (Waugh et al., 2014, Health Education England, 2014a), the concept of values based selection is problematic. It raises concerns over which values should be selected for; how these might be reliably and validly identified and measured; the scope for development of the desired values through nurse education and therefore an understanding of what students would be required to demonstrate prior to entry to their nursing or midwifery programmes (Snowden et al., 2015a).

In light of the conceptual difficulties identified above, a longitudinal study to investigate the impact of emotional intelligence (EI), demographic factors, previous caring experience and mindfulness on student nurse and midwife performance and retention across the three years of their pre-registration education was commenced in 2013 (Snowden et al., 2015a). EI relates to our ability to identify and work with our own and others' emotions, and was chosen for investigation as it is often discussed in the literature as a central part of nursing (Bulmer Smith et al., 2009) and there is evidence that EI might be linked to nurse performance. EI is also theoretically conceptualised and empirically tested in the psychology literature and there are a number of valid and reliable instruments for its measurement thus mitigating the problems related to measurement of poorly defined or conceptualised ‘values’. This paper reports on the performance related findings of the 2nd data collection period.