EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND COPING STRATEGIES IN FUTURE SCHOOL COUNSELLORS

Introduction:The emotional intelligence (EI) of school counsellors is currently of particular relevance due to the increasing number of emotional problems affecting their mental well-being.This not only affects their professional performance, but also has repercussions on their personal lives.To date, training programmes seem to ignore this fact.Objectives: 1) to obtain information on the need to include EI in training programmes; 2) to determine whether the meta-knowledge of the three emotional dimensions assessed: attention (feeling/expressing their emotions appropriately); clarity (understanding their emotions well) and emotional repair (regulating their emotions appropriately) is adequate; 2) to assess whether they have the appropriate coping strategies to manage and solve emotional problems in their daily lives; 3) to analyse whether there is a significant correlation between the emotional dimensions and the coping strategies applied.Method: this is a non-experimental (ex post facto), descriptive and survey-based study, with non-probabilistic sampling of the incidental or accessibility type.Data collection to assess emotional intelligence was by self-report, applying the Trait-Meta-Mood Scale for the Assessment of Emotion Expression, Management and Recognition (TMMS-24).Data on the strategies used to solve everyday emotional problems were obtained by applying the Coping Strategies Inventory [CSI].They were analysed using descriptive statistics, comparison of means and Spearman's correlation coefficient.The sample consisted of 36 subjects.Results: the results allow us to identify the emotional intelligence profile in the three dimensions evaluated, obtaining that between 66%-69% have an adequate profile and between 31%-34% need to improve by defect or excess.As for the coping strategies, four of them are within the average range and another four above the average, with respect to the normal population.There is a positive correlation between the emotional dimensions and the total CSI score.Conclusions: From the results obtained, we conclude that, although the sample of this study shows acceptable levels of EI, it is essential that emotional intelligence occupies a prominent place in the training programmes of these professionals, as a percentage of the total CSI score is higher than that of the normal population.