The impact of emotional intelligence training on social workers and human service providers in health care settings

Although emotional intelligence has possible relevance for the practice of social work, little research has been conducted in social work settings to date (Morrison, 2007). Nevertheless, the concept of emotional intelligence has gained a great deal of popularity within the health care industry. This study examined the impact of emotional intelligence training on social workers and human service providers in health care settings. The research question was as follows: Does emotional intelligence training with health care social work and human service providers affect the perceived value and potential outcomes of emotional intelligence in health care?;A total of 21 social workers and human service providers were included in this study. Participants attended an emotional intelligence training intervention, were given voluntary access to an online review of emotional intelligence competencies, and took a post-test and delayed post-test to assess the impact of the emotional intelligence training on their work.;Participants reported that the emotional intelligence training had a medium or high impact for all tested domains, and these effects tended to be sustained at the delayed post-test. There was a slight decline for the impact of the training on participants' patient and family interventions and a slight increase of the training's impact on their coworker relationships. Notably, the impact of the training on participants' social skills was reported to be lower at the delayed post-test.;Based on the findings from this study, it is recommended that (a) emotional intelligence competencies be included as part of the ethical standards set by social work and human service professional organizations, (b) emotional intelligence training be included in graduate education and continuing education for these workers, (c) competence in emotional intelligence be used as one of the standards for entering and continuing in the graduate programs that train these workers, and (d) monitoring for emotional intelligence competencies be built into performance evaluation for these workers.;Limitations of this study included a small sample size and not using content specifically focused on human service providers and social workers.;Suggestions for additional research include examining how job satisfaction influences the emotional intelligence skill set among social workers and human service providers and examining which emotional intelligence skills can and should be developed during coursework and which emotional intelligence skills can and should be developed during fieldwork.