Emotional intelligence: district nurses’ lived experiences

Emotional Intelligence, recognizing and handling ones’ own and others’ emotions is beginning to figure in nursing literature, with potential to enhance care, teamwork and wellbeing. District nursing is laden with complex and emotional issues yet little research investigates the value of emotional intelligence in district nursing specifically. This qualitative study adopts interpretative phenomenological analysis with five district nurses, (of different grades), to illuminate perceptions and experiences of emotional intelligence. Findings show district nurses perceive emotional intelligence to be an essential part of their role, regardless of grade or position. Despite being a relatively new concept to nurses, each participant perceived relevant attributes as essential to quality care in the home, especially in relation to palliative care. Themes identified include: self awareness, control, assessment, experience, palliative care and leadership. Only some of these are consistent with existing literature and illustrate a need to investigate this interesting area further.