RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Emotion and how people manage it is an important part of personality that would immensely affect their health. Investigations showed that emotional intelligence is significantly related to and can predict psychological health. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of teaching emotional intelligence to intensive care unit nurses on their general health. METHODS: This randomized clinical trial (registered as IRCT201208022812N9) was conducted on 52 of 200 in intensive care unit nurses affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. They were recruited through purposeful convenience sampling and then randomly categorized into two groups. The intervention group members were trained in emotional intelligence. Bar-on emotional intelligence and Goldberg's general health questionnaires were administered to each participant before, immediately after, and one month after the intervention. RESULTS: While the mean score of general health for the intervention group decreased from 25.4 before the intervention, to 18.1 immediately after the intervention and to 14.6 one month later, for the control group, it increased from 22.0, to 24.2 and to 26.5, respectively (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Teaching emotional intelligence improved the general health of intensive care unit nurses.