The Relationship between Spiritual Intelligence with Caring Behavior and Empathy in Nurses Working in Hospitals affiliated to University of Medical Sciences of Kashan

Nurses' caring behavior is one of the factors of patient satisfaction. Empathy, on the other hand, is an essential component of the quality of health care. Caring behavior and empathy can be influenced by spiritual intelligence. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between spiritual intelligence with caring behavior and empathy for nurses.

This is a descriptive correlational study conducted in 2019. The target population was nurses working in educational hospitals of Kashan that 185 were selected by stratified random sampling. Data were collected using Questionnaires of King's Spiritual Intelligence, Wolf's Caring Behavior and Jefferson's Empathy. The validity and reliability of the instruments have been determined in previous studies. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation, frequency distribution) and inferential (Pearson correlation test) by SPSS 16 software.

The mean spiritual intelligence of nurses was in the moderate range (97.35 26 26.12). The mean of nurses 'empathy (98.37±18 18.30) and nurses' caring behavior (198.5±41 41.60) were above average and acceptable. There was no statistically significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and caring behavior (P = 0.5), and also spiritual intelligence and empathy level (P = 0.621). However, the correlation matrix indicated a significant relationship between some of the components.

There was no relationship between spiritual intelligence with empathy and caring behavior of nurses, but by reinforcing some components of spiritual intelligence such as expanding consciousness and transcendent awareness, it can enhance nursing caring behavior and ultimately improve patient care.