The Moderating Effects of Emotional Intelligence on Clinical Communication Self-Efficacy and Caregiver Burden

This study addresses the gap in research on family caregivers by examining how specific communication skills may affect caregiver burden. Caregiver burden is the perception of whether caregiving has a negative effect on an individual's functioning, including physical, social, and emotional operation. This paper examines the impact of two types of self-perceptions that are related to communication competence. Self-efficacy refers to one's confidence in being able to communicate with clinicians. Emotional intelligence is a subset of social intelligence and represents one's ability to manage their own and others' feelings and emotions. Three hundred and two participants self-identified as caregivers completed a survey that included measures of caregiver burden, clinical communication self-efficacy, and trait emotional intelligence. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that both higher levels of clinical communication self-efficacy and emotional intelligence decreased caregiver burden. However, emotional intelligence moderated the relationship between clinical communication self-efficacy and caregiver burden in that higher clinical communication self-efficacy was more strongly related to less burden when respondents also reported higher emotional intelligence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.