A. Sreejith Sudhakar and S. Kadhiravan
Periyar University, Salem
Nursing is a challenging job that necessitates constant communication with a range of people including co-workers, patients, and families in a stressful environment. In addition to this stressful environment, nursing students must obtain the required knowledge and skills, and how to behave in various stressful professional situation. These obligations may have a severe impact on their mental health. We aimed to investigate the role of emotional intelligence and cognitive styles on mental health of nursing students. 294 nursing students from different colleges in Kozhikode district of Kerala, India were selected. Stratified random sampling method was used to collect the data. The mental health, emotional intelligence, and cognitive styles of nursing students were evaluated using three different inventories. The Mental Health Inventory, developed by Augustine in 1988, was utilized to assess mental health. Emotional intelligence was evaluated using the Emotional Quotient Inventory, created by Bar-On in 1997. Finally, the Personal Style Inventory (PSI) developed by Taggart in 1993 was utilized to evaluate the cognitive styles of the nursing students. Results revealed that emotional intelligence and cognitive styles had a significant positive association with mental health among nursing students. The emotional intelligence and cognitive styles of students had a significant impact on their mental health. Moreover, nursing students differed significantly in their mental health with respect to their demographic characteristics such as the year of study, family type, and locality. Findings suggested the importance of implementing effective psychological interventions to promote mental health and sound environment for nursing students.