The mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship of professional quality of life with caring behaviors in pediatric nurses: A path analysis

Pediatric nurses are key members in providing health care to children. Emotional intelligence plays an important role in healthcare and healthcare education, and higher emotional intelligence is associated with more compassionate and empathetic patient care, higher knowledge and skills, and better teamwork. This research is a predictive correlation study which was conducted in 2022 on 236 nurses working in pediatric wards. In this study, SPSS22 and AMOS26 and path analysis statistical method were used for data analysis. The results of this study showed that the professional quality of life with caring behaviors in nurses working in pediatric ward (beta = 0.339, p < .001) and the professional quality of life with emotional intelligence in nurses working in pediatric ward (beta = 0.175 , p = .002) and emotional intelligence correlated with care behaviors in nurses working in the pediatric ward (beta = 0.306, p = .001). The ability to explain the final model is 18%. The results of this study showed that having a higher professional quality of life in pediatric nurses, in addition to being effective on the mental health of nurses, can also affect caring behaviors. Pediatric nurses with a higher level of compassion satisfaction and less burnout can have empathic behaviors and more effective communication with the child and its parents as a whole unit of care and provide more humanistic care that is required to care for a sick child.