The Mediating Effect of Mindfulness in the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Stress among Clinical Nurses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effects of mindfulness on the relationships between emotional intelligence and stress among nurses. Cross-sectional survey design was conducted. Data were collected using questionnaire from 151 nurses who working at a university hospital in Seoul. The survey instruments included Emotional intelligence (The Wong and Law EI Scale), Mindfulness (Mindfulness Scale) and Stress (Stress Response Inventory). Data were analyzed using Baron and Kenny's (1986) a series of three regressions for mediation. The result was compared between Mindfulness as a moderator in the

Differences of Job stress, Burnout, and Mindfulness according to General Characteristics of Clinical Nurses

“…Thus, development of programs to prevent burnout resulting from work experience or position is vital. Conversely, nurses who were male, in their fifties, had a bachelor's degree, head nurses, and nurses with five or more years of working experience had greater mindfulness scores; this result was similar to that of Oh & Koh [1]. However, this topic should be the subject of detailed future investigation, since few studies have examined mindfulness in clinical nurses.…”

“…A comparative study is required in order to examine this factor. The average mindfulness score, however, was 3.91, which was lower than that of another study on nurses, which reported an average score of 4.09 [1]. Mindfulness is known to improve individuals' ability to eliminate dysfunctional behavior patterns in stressful situations by reducing immediate emotional responses and promoting cognition evaluation [10].…”

“…Hospital nurses are reported to have relatively high levels of job stress compared to other occupations, due to large qualitative and quantitative medical demands and complex interpersonal relations [1]. Job stress may cause withdrawn behavior, since it lowers efficiency and leads to psychological burnout [2].…”

Relations of Job Stress, Burnout, Mindfulness and Job Satisfaction of Clinical Nurses

“…The quality of clinical nurses' work environment is believed to affect quality of patient care, to a greater extent than that of a positive working attitude. However, it has been reported that nurses tend to experience more work-related stress compared with other occupations, due to growing demand for quality as well as quantity in medical services, and due to the complexity of maintaining relationships with people of varying professions [1]. This stress generates negative job attitudes among nurses, and affects quality of medical service, which subsequently increases the rate of nursing errors, decreases patient satisfaction [2], and causes symptoms of burnout among nurses.…”

“…In extant research nurse burnout has shown positive correlation with job stress and negative correlation with job satisfaction [4,5]. By contrast, mindfulness meditation is negatively correlated with job stress [1]. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of job stress, burnout, and mindfulness meditation on nurses' job satisfaction, and to obtain preliminary data regarding increasing job satisfaction of nurses.…”