Abstract
BACKGROUND: Compassion is an important competence for nursing students, and it is essential to identify factors that affect it, such as emotional intelligence and fear of compassion. The purpose of this study was to examine the levels of emotional intelligence, fear of compassion, and compassion competence and their association among nursing students. METHODS: A cross-sectional correlational study was carried out in the faculty of nursing and midwifery, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Data were collected via census sampling. A sample of 213 nursing students participated, completing general information questionnaire, Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, the fear of compassion scale, and the compassion competence scale. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS-24 software at a significance level of less than 0.05. RESULTS: The total mean scores for emotional intelligence, fear of compassion, and compassion competence were found to be 80.37 (15.36), 63.15 (22.09), and 61.68 (7.47), respectively. Results of multiple regression analyses indicate that the total score of emotional intelligence (β = 0.191; p < 0.01) had a positive significant influence on the nursing students' compassion competence, whereas the total score of fear of compassion (β = -0.213; p < 0.01) negatively influenced the nursing students' compassion competence. By controlling demographic characteristics, emotional intelligence and fear of compassion predict 12.4% of the variance of the nursing students' compassion competence. The total score of emotional intelligence was negatively correlated with fear of receiving compassion from others (r = -0.218, p = 0.001), fear of self-compassion (r = -0.276, p < 0.001), and the total score of fear of compassion (r = -0.252, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Effective emotional intelligence training programs are suggested to reduce nursing students' fear of compassion and improve their competence in compassion. Interventions that will reduce nurses' fear of compassion may be one way to improve compassion competence.