The relationships among coping, occupational stress, and emotional intelligence in newly hired nurses in an oncology setting

Oncology work environments are stressful due to increasing workloads, decreasing staffing levels, and rising patient acuity, which may contribute to the physical stress and emotional exhaustion experienced by oncology nurses. Empirical evidence supports that individual Emotional Intelligence levels may be predictive of whether nurses can successfully cope with the occupational stress emanating from the work environment. Theorists contend that individual Emotional Intelligence may moderate the selection of coping strategies when managing occupational stress in the nursing environment. This study explored the relationships among coping strategies, occupational stress, and Emotional Intelligence in newly hired oncology nurses, as well as the degree to which Emotional Intelligence moderated the use of coping strategies in the presence of occupational stress. The EQ-i 2.0 TM, the Ways of Coping Questionnaire and the Nursing Stress Scale were used to measure the study variables. Newly hired nurses, with no prior oncology experience in a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, were invited to participate in the study though email/web link to online surveys. Data were collected from October 2013 through January 2015, after 98 completed surveys were obtained. Data were analyzed to determine correlations between coping strategies (Emotion-Focused and Problem-Focused Coping), occupational stress and Emotional Intelligence. A moderation model was built to determine whether Emotional Intelligence moderated the effect of Problem-Focused and Emotion-Focused Coping during occupational stress. Results of this study found significant relationships between variables, however Emotional Intelligence did not moderate an effect on the choice of coping strategies. Findings concluded that newly hired nurses in this research had average to high Emotional Intelligence and used Problem-Focused Coping to deal with their occupational stress. The stress experienced by the newly hired nurses in this study was higher compared to experienced nurses in other studies. These findings concluded that the newly hired oncology nurses in this research experienced occupational stress within the first three months post hire, and contributed to the empirical nursing literature that explains coping, occupational stress and Emotional Intelligence in this sample of oncology nurses during their initial employment period.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Ann Marie Mazzella Ebstei