Emotional intelligence and internet addiction among nursing interns

Nursing graduates, during the internship period, carry a lot of duties and responsibilities which obligates them to use proficient emotional abilities. Emotional intelligence (EI) is the aptitude to manage emotions intelligently which includes a group of emotional and cognitive competencies. There are multiple factors that affect EI. One of them is internet addiction (IA). The aims of this study are to determine the EI and IA levels among nursing interns and to investigate the relationship between them. Hence, the research employed a descriptive, correlative survey which was conducted on all nursing interns who enrolled at the Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University, Egypt. The survey instrument included the Trait EI Questionnaire Short Form (TEIQue SF) and the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ). In addition, sociodemographic assessment was involved. According to the findings of this study, the majority of nursing interns have high EI scores concerning, well being, self control, emotionality and sociability. Also, a greater number of nursing interns have low scores pertaining to obsession, neglect and self control of IA components. There is a statistically significant relation between participants’ socio-demographic characteristics and EI scores and IA scores. Additionally, there is an evidence of negative or inverse correlation between IA and EI among nursing interns. Conclusion and recommendations: EI and IA are negatively correlated among graduate nursing interns. These two important concepts should be investigated and integrated into the nursing curriculum. As well, nursing interns should be trained on how to develop EI skills and use of the internet in a proper way.