Jenny Young

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

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 Schuttes 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

Improving the care of cancer patients: holistic needs assessment

_amp_

Evaluating holistic needs assessment in outpatient cancer care—a randomised controlled trial: the study protocol

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.

A screening tool for predicting gatekeeping behaviour

This discussion paper presents a review of holistic needs assessments (HNAs) in the care of patients with cancer. HNAs entail a structured review of patient needs as articulated by the patient. This discussion then leads to a care plan grounded in issues pertinent to that patient. Despite policy guidance advocating its use, there are barriers to overcome in order to integrate HNAs into routine care. This article discusses what role communication skills and clinician confidence may have on the use of HNAs in practice, and suggests a strategy to support HNAs becoming the norm.

Proactive community support tailored to holistic needs: A cohort study

Introduction People living with and beyond cancer are vulnerable to a number of physical, functional and psychological issues. Undertaking a holistic needs assessment (HNA) is one way to support a structured discussion of patients’ needs within a clinical consultation. However, there is little evidence on how HNA impacts on the dynamics of the clinical consultation. This study aims to establish (1) how HNA affects the type of conversation that goes on during a clinical consultation and (2) how these putative changes impact on shared decision-making and self-efficacy. Methods and analysis The study is hosted by 10 outpatient oncology clinics in the West of Scotland and South West England. Participants are patients with a diagnosis of head and neck, breast, urological, gynaecological and colorectal cancer who have received treatment for their cancer. Patients are randomised to an intervention or control group. The control group entails standard care—routine consultation between the patient and clinician. In the intervention group, the patient completes a holistic needs assessment prior to consultation. The completed assessment is then given to the clinician where it informs a discussion based on the patients needs and concerns as identified by them. The primary outcome measure is patient participation, as determined by dialogue ratio (DR) and preponderance of initiative (PI) within the consultation. The secondary outcome measures are shared decision-making and self-efficacy. It is hypothesised that HNA will be associated with greater patient participation within the consultation, and that shared decision-making and feelings of self-efficacy will increase as a function of the intervention. Ethics and dissemination This study has been given a favourable opinion by the West of Scotland Research Ethics Committee and NHS Research & Development. Study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference attendance. Trail registration number Clinical Trials.gov NCT02274701.

The relationship between emotional intelligence, previous caring experience and mindfulness in student nurses and midwives: A cross sectional analysis

To develop a typology and screening tool for gatekeeping behaviours by nurses responsible for recruitment in palliative care research.

The relationship between emotional intelligence, previous caring experience, and successful completion of a pre-registration nursing/midwifery degree

It is increasingly internationally recognized that a cancer diagnosis impacts on people practically and financially as well as physically and psychologically. It is less clear what to do about this. This study introduces an original community service designed to mitigate this wider impact. Nonclinical “link officers” use holistic needs assessment (HNA) to help newly diagnosed people identify and quantify the severity of their physical, psychological, practical, financial, and social concerns. A care plan is then agreed, usually involving community interventions from partner agencies. Following intervention, assessment is repeated. The primary aim of this study was to establish whether there was a significant difference between initial assessment and follow‐up, postintervention. Secondary aim was to identify potential predictors of increased levels of concern at baseline and follow‐up.