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Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Department

Nursing

Thesis Committee Chairperson

Lisa Ball, PhD, RN, FNP-BC

Second Reader

Andrew Wheeler, DPT

Abstract

Purpose: Research overwhelmingly suggests that chronic medical illness is firmly linked with an increased prevalence of disorders on the depression spectrum and a decreased quality of life. While there has been some research focusing on the phenomenon of living with a wound, such studies did not adequately address the hypothetical correlation between mental health issues and delayed wound healing among patients with chronic wounds. The purpose of the present study was to explore the emotional intelligence of patients with chronic wounds to contribute to the growing body of knowledge encompassing Trait EI.

Method: This was a quantitative, correlational study in which an anonymous pen-and-paper self-report questionnaire was used to measure the EI and chronic wound status of patients at a local wound clinic. The 30- item tool used was the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF) (Petrides & Furnham, 2006). Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 23; measures of central tendency and Spearman correlation were calculated.

Findings: A total of 34 participants completed the TEIQue-SF questionnaire. Participant ages ranged from 33 to 93 years old, with a mean of 68 years old and standard deviation of 14.8 years. The total EI scores of participants ranged from 2.30 to 6.77 with a mean of 4.83 and a standard deviation of 0.83. There was a statistically significant relationship between wound duration and trait EI among the population studied. Participants who had EI scores on the lower end of the spectrum also tended to have wounds for a longer duration. Patients with the highest range of EI scores (5.48-6.77) had their wound for less than three months. The opposite was true of the people whose scores fell into the lowest EI range (2.30-4.20); half of these patients also fell into the longest wound duration category—greater than one year.

Conclusions: The results of the study as well as previous research support that higher EI is associated with improved wound healing. Thus, a lower EI could be viewed as a risk factor for poor wound healing and patients falling into this category may need a higher level of care.

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