TITLE:
Emotional Intelligence Training to Reduce Nurse Stress in an Online Community
AUTHORS:
Rachel Marie Morelli
KEYWORDS:
Emotional Intelligence, Nurse Stress, Online Nursing Community, Perceived Stress Scale, Workforce Well-Being
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.16 No.6,
June
24,
2026
ABSTRACT: Nurse stress continues to impact workforce stability, patient outcomes, and organizational performance. Emotional intelligence (EI) has emerged as a strategy to improve emotional regulation and reduce stress. This quality improvement project evaluated the effect of an EI educational module on perceived stress among registered nurses participating in an online nursing community. A pre-post design was used, with participants completing the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) before and one month after the intervention. Results demonstrated a trend in decreased median stress scores from 21.5 (moderate stress) pre-intervention to 12 (low Stress) post-intervention. Although inferential analysis was limited due to unequal sample sizes, findings suggest that EI education may be an effective and scalable approach to reducing nurse stress in online environments. Integrating EI training into professional communities and organizational initiatives may support nurses’ well-being and improve practical outcomes.