• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.162-174
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• 2017

This study is descriptive research conducted to determine the levels of depression, emotional intelligence, and psychological well-being of nurses employed in small-and medium-sized hospitals, as well as to identify the correlations of these variables, predict factors influencing nurses' psychological well-being, and finally, test the mediating effects of emotional intelligence in the relationship between depression and psychological well-being. The subjects of the study included 336 nurses employed in small-and medium-sized hospitals located in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. Using a structured questionnaire, a sample was taken from December 17, 2016 to January 8, 2017. The results that the nurses showed an average level of depression with a mean score of 1.55 points, while their mean scores of emotional intelligence and psychological well-being were above average (3.05 and 3.51 scores, respectively). Depression exhibited negative (-) correlations with emotional intelligence and psychological well-being, whereas emotional intelligence had a positive (+) correlation with psychological well-being. The significant predictors of psychological well-being were found to include sleep hours (${\beta}=0.111$), working department (${\beta}=0.236$), and depression (${\beta}=-0.245$). Moreover, evaluation of the mediating effects of emotional intelligence revealed significant relationships between depression and regulation of emotion (${\beta}=0.527$) and between depression and emotional utilization (${\beta}=0.167$). In conclusion, the work environment and depression were predicted to be major factors influencing psychological well-being, while emotional intelligence was found to be a partially mediating factor. Overall, these results demonstrate that easing depression and improving emotional intelligence can be very positive countermeasures in revitalizing the hospital organization, as well as in ensuring the happiness of individual nurses. Therefore, interventions aimed at improving work environments and easing depression are required to improve nurses' psychological well-being.