The Emotional Intelligence Training and its Effectiveness on Students with Visual Impairment

Nowadays, emotions have an important effect on our behaviors. Therefore, in many studies conducted on emotional intelligence (EI), the researchers have tried to find out the relationship of EI and different variables. However a few studies have been conducted to examine whether emotional intelligence training can improve EI. The purpose of the present study is to investigate EI training and to evaluate its effectiveness on the EI of students with visual impairment. We used a pre-post test experimental design through a convenient sample of 19 middle school students with visual impairments who are divided into two experimental (9 students) and control groups (10 students). In this study, EI is measured by the Bar-On Emotional Quotient-Inventory Youth Version (Bar-On & Parker, 2000). Also, T-test and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) are used to analyze the gathered data. The results show significant differences between the two groups in EI after 15 sessions of emotional intelligence training. It is also revealed that it is possible to develop EI training programs for enhancing EI in students with visual impairment.