Emotional competence as a factor affecting communication in the field of health care among employees of Community Health Care Centres in Sarajevo Canton based on their work place

Abstract Introduction: Charles Darwin recognised the importance of emotions and of the ability to control one's own emotions. Nowadays, the fact that the most influential and successful individuals attribute their personal development and success to not their intellectual ability but to emotional intelligence speaks for itself about the importance of this term. Emotional intelligence, when observed as a characteristic or a personality trait, is closely tied with emotional maturity and stability. Health professionals ought to be active members when it comes to treatment and rehabilitation and thus they need to participate in the change of communication, whether by following or influencing the change themselves. Objectives: Examine the characteristics, emotional competence distribution frequency as a factor affecting communication in the field of health care. Respondents and methods: The survey covered a sample of 64 respondents working as head nurses/technicians and/or charge nurses/technicians in the primary healthcare, i.e. community health centres in Sarajevo Canton. Survey and Theoretical Analysis methods were used. Results: Examination of frequency distribution in the Emotional Competence Scale, as a factor affecting communication in the field of health care, includes the presentation and analysis of the results achieved for each of the 14 items on this scale with the structure of responses and total score of the employees of the Community Health Care Centres in Sarajevo Canton, along with ranks for each of the items based on the total number of points as the scalar value of the item. Conclusion: Upon examination of the statistical analysis of the results of the Emotional Competence Scale, it can be concluded there are statistically significant differences in the average level of emotional competence as a factor affecting communication in the field of health care among the respondents based on their work place. Key words : emotional competence, communication, nurse/technician.