Emotional Intelligence and associated factors among case team leaders in Health Centers of East Gojam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia: A facility based cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one's own emotions and the emotions of others which encompasses a set of skills that enable individuals to navigate their social interactions effectively and make better decisions in various personal and professional contexts. Health care is a complex industry and needs emotionally intelligent leaders to provide successful and effective healthcare services. However, there is limited evidence on emotional intelligence and associated factors among case team leaders in the study area, and at large in Ethiopia. Therefore, the findings of this study will contribute to improved emotional intelligence among case team leaders. Method Facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the East Gojam zone among 415 case team leaders selected by a random sampling technique. A pre-tested and structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were entered into Epi-Data version 4.6 and exported into Stata version 14.0 for analysis. Multiple binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with emotional intelligence, and statistical significance was declared at a p-value < 0.05 with a 95% CI. Result The overall level of emotional intelligence among case team leaders was low among 180 (45.6%), and high 215 (54.4%). Factors associated with emotional intelligence were age with 35–39 years old [AOR = 1.21; 95% CI: (1.03–1.65)], training on emotional resilience [AOR = 1.50; 95% CI: (1.35–1.69)], working experience of 4–6 years [AOR = 1.19; 95% CI: (1.15–1.54)] & greater or equal to six years [AOR = 1.48; 95% CI: (1.36–1.59)], educational status [AOR = 1.32; 95% CI: (1.18–1.75)], history of stressor in the last six months [AOR = 0.75; 95% CI: (0.32–0.98)]. Conclusion and Recommendation: This study evidenced that larger proportion of case team leaders in the health centers of East Gojam Zone had high level of emotional intelligence. Those case team leaders with the age of 35–39 years old, Master degree holders, trained on emotional intelligence, hadn’t history of stressor in the last six month, and those who had working experience of above four years were identified as having high level of emotional intelligence in the health centers of the East Gojam Zone. However, this indicated that still, there is a need to improve emotional intelligence among rest of case team leaders due to increasing complexity of the healthcare industry and growing expectations of clients in the competitive healthcare industry. Training on emotional intelligence and stress management in the clinical setting should also be considered in the future strategies enhancing emotional intelligence among case team leaders. It is also important to revise healthcare curriculum periodically so that emotional intelligence will be included as core competency.