Effect of an Emotional Intelligence Educational Program on Perceived and Occupational Stress of Health Workers: A Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Background:Coping with occupational stress is vital for health workers to communicate better with patients and ultimately the interactions between patients and providers impact the quality of care.This study aimed to explore the effect of an emotional intelligence training program on occupational and perceived stress in health workers. Materials and Methods: A pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in Andimeshk Health Centers between January and March 2019.The absolute changes from baseline to final emotional intelligence, occupational stress, and perceived stress were measured.Standard questionnaires including the Brad-Berry & Graves Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, the HSE Standard Occupational Stress Questionnaire, and Cohen's perceived stress, were used.The inperson training program included two workshops (duration= 6 hours) and a 30-day follow-up.Results: Of 80 health workers, 75 fulfilled the study requirements (n=37 allocated to the experiment vs. n= 38 allocated to the control).Baseline emotional intelligence in the experimental group improved by about 1.16 units versus a non-significant change in the control group (=-1.21).At baseline, there was no significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of the mean scores for occupational stress and perceived stress (p> 0.05).We observed a non-significant improvement in occupational stress and perceived stress in the experimental group.However, the score changes in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05).Conclusions: We found that emotional intelligence improvement could significantly impact stress management and perceived stress; therefore, it is recommended that emotional intelligence training be included in annual training programs.