Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others and within other healthcare disciplines EI is considered an essential attribute of an effective practitioner. Midwifery is emotionally challenging work meaning midwifery students require more than just the cognitive ability to learn the requisite midwifery knowledge and competence at performing practical midwifery skills. The knowledge and skills that midwives require intersect with and are influenced by a wide range of emotions and emotional experiences . To develop an understanding of midwifery students’ perceptions of EI and its relationship to midwifery to inform education and support of midwifery students. A qualitative methodology, phenomenography, was used to gain a collective understanding of midwifery students’ perceptions and experiences of EI and its relationship to midwifery. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 Australian midwifery students. Phenomenographic analysis was used to identify categories of description (the phenomenographic equivalent of themes) revealing the different ways midwifery students conceptualised EI and its relationship to midwifery. The findings of this research offer a unique midwifery perspective on the nature of EI highlighting how EI is an integral part of midwifery practice and a necessary attribute that midwifery students require to support their practice in an emotionally challenging profession. Becoming a midwife is an inherently emotion filled experience that requires midwifery students to not only master the skills and competencies required for midwifery practice but to learn how to navigate the nuances and complexities of often-intense emotional experiences.These findings have implications for all those who support midwifery students within both academic and clinical spaces, to better prepare midwifery students to deal with the emotional load of midwifery and support the development of EI.
Balding et al. (Wed,) studied this question.