Attitude of acute care nurses to the family presence during resuscitation and emotional intelligence: a cross sectional study

Abstract Objective Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is one of the most important life-saving procedures in the hospital. Contrary to medical guidelines, family presence during CPR is still not accepted in some countries. Family presence during CPR depends on the nurses’ attitude, which is influenced by various factors. Emotional intelligence (EI) helps nurses make wise decisions and display responsible behavior, which is necessary for proper and good performance in nursing. The study’s purpose was to determine the attitude of acute care nurses toward family presence during CPR and its relationship with EI. Methods The descriptive-analytical study was conducted among the nurses of acute care units (intensive care unit [ICU], critical care unit, and emergency department) in teaching hospitals of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2022–2023. A total of 186 nurses were included in the study using convenience sampling. The data collection tools were a checklist of demographic characteristics, nurses’ attitude toward the presence of family scale, and Siberia Schering’s EI questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics and SPSS software. Results The mean age of the participants was (32.05 ± 6.93) years. Of 186 nurses participating in the study, 127 (68.3%) were women and the rest were men. The mean score of attitude was 47.41 ± 9.41 (the minimum score of the nurses was 19 and the maximum score was 95). The mean score of EI was 99.27 ± 8.86 (the minimum score was 69 and the maximum score was 128). The results of Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed no significant relationship between the total score of attitude and EI of the participants ( P = 0.588). Data analysis showed that only the self-arousal dimension of EI has a significant relationship with the range of family self-control behaviors in attitude ( P = 0.037). Conclusions The results showed that the nurses of acute care units have a positive attitude toward the presence of the family during CPR and have high EI. Although no significant relationship was observed between the 2 variables, paying attention to the influencing factors on the attitude of the nurse toward family presence during CPR in different societies needs more research and investigation.