Emotional Intelligence and Empathy on Counselors’ General Health in Accra Ghana
Keywords:
Counselor, General health, EmpathyAbstract
Counsellors sometimes become victim in their professional practice. This study explores the role of emotional intelligence and empathy on the general health of counselors in the Accra metropolis. The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence, empathy, and general health and to identify demographic predictors on emotional intelligence, empathy, and general health. In a cross-sectional exploratory case study of 133 purposively selected counselors from Accra Metropolis were administered an online self-report survey questionnaire that consisted of emotional intelligence questionnaire, empathy scale and general health questionnaire. Findings revealed that emotional intelligence and empathy significantly predict general health. A significant positive correlation exists between emotional intelligence and general health, while a clinical significance of a positive correlation exists between emotional intelligence and empathy. Again, no significant difference was found between the general health of male and female counselors. No significant difference was found in the scores for empathy and emotional intelligence for licensed professional counselors and licensed lay counselors. Safeguarding the counselor’s health is ethically imperative due to the effect on professional competence and performance. It is recommended that counselors and training institutions deepen effort in creating awareness on the need to protect the health of counselors for the benefit of clients and the high regard of the counseling profession.
References
. Gutierrez, D., & Mullen, P., (2016). Emotional Intelligence and the counselor: examining
Mental Health Counseling, 38(3), 187-200 doi:10.77 mehc.38.3.01.
. Skovholt, T. M., & Trotter-Mathison, M., (2016). The Resilient Practitioner (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.
. Norcross, J. C., & VandenBos, G. R., (2018). Leaving it at the office: A guide to psychotherapist self-care (2nd ed.) New York: Guilford Press.
. Corey, G., (2015). Theory and practice of counselling and psychotherapy (10th ed.).
Boston: Cengage Learning.
. World Health Organization, (2022). Constitution of the World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/about/governance/constitution.
. World Health Organization, (2017). Determinants of health. http://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/determinants- of-health.
. Tagoe, E., & Quarshie, E., (2016). The relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction among nurses in Accra. Wiley Nursing Open. Doi:10.1002/nop 2.70
. American Counseling Association., (2014). ACA Code of ethics: As approved by the ACA
governing council. Retrieved 10/10/21 from https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-
codeof-ethics.pdf.
. Stueber, K., (2019). Empathy. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2019/entries. Accessed on 09/06/22.
. Bolton D., & Gillett G., (2019). The biopsychosocial model of health and disease: New
philosophical and scientific developments. Palgrave Macmillan: Switzerland.
. Cohen S., & Pressman S., (2004). Encyclopedia of health and behaviour. Sage
Publications:
London.
. Gutierrez, D., & Mullen, P., (2016). Emotional Intelligence and the counselor: examining
The relationship of trait emotional intelligence to counselor burnout .Journal of
Mental Health Counseling, 38(3), 187-200 doi:10.77 mehc.38.3.01.
. Wardle, E. A., & Mayorga, M. G., (2016). Burnout among the counseling profession: A survey of future professional counselors. I-manager’s Journal on Educational Psychology. 10 (1).
. Meyer, D., & Ponton, R., (2006). The healthy tree: A metaphorical perspective of counsel well-being. Journal of Mental Health Counseling. 28 (3) 189- 201.
. Goleman, D., (2009). Emotional intelligence: why it can matter more than IQ.
London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
. Bolton D., & Gillett G., (2019). The biopsychosocial model of health and disease: New
philosophical and scientific developments. Palgrave Macmillan: Switzerland.
. Petrides, K. V., & Furnham, A., (2001). Trait emotional intelligence. Psychometric investigations with reference to established trait taxonomies. European Journal of Personality. 15 (6), 425-448.
. Swedberg, R., (2020). Exploratory research. The production of knowledge: Enhancing progress in social science. 17-41.
. Taherdoost, H., (2016). Sampling methods in research methodology; How to choose a sampling technique for research. International Journal of Academic Research in Management (IJARM), 5, hal-02546796.
. Petrides, K. V., Mikolajczak, M., Mavroveli, S., Sanchez-Ruiz, M. J., Furnham, A., & Pérez-González, J. C., (2016). Development in triat emotional intelligence research. Emotion. Review. 8 (4), 335-341.
. Petrides, K. V. & Furnham, A. (2001). Trait emotional intelligence: Psychometric
Investigation with reference to established trait taxonomies. European Journal
Personality, 15 (6) 425- 448. https??//doi.org/10/1002/per.416.
. Boyatzis, R. E., (2018). The behavioral level of emotional intelligence and its
measurement. Frontiers in Psychology. 9, 1438.
. Suzuki, Y., & Kino, K., (2008). Development of the multi-dimensional empathy scale (MES). The Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology. 56 (4), 437-497.
. Neumann, D. L., Chan, R. C., Boyle, G. J., Wang, Y., & Westbury, H. R., (2015). Measures of empathy. Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Constructs. 257-289.
. Goldberg, D.P., Oldehinkel, T., & Ormel, J., (1998). Why GHQ threshold varies from one
place to another. Psychol Med. 28(4), 915-921. Doi:10.1017/s0033291798006874.
. Goleman, D., (2009). Emotional intelligence: why it can matter more than IQ.
London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
. Smith, J. D., Lassiter, P. S., & Gutierrez D., (2020). Examining the relationship of emotional
intelligence and cultural empathy in addiction counselors. Journal of Addictions
and Offenders Counseling. 41 (2), 97-110.
. Pool, L., & Qualter, P., (2012). Improving emotional intelligence and emotional self-efficacy through a teaching intervention for university students. Learning and Individual Differences. 22 (3), 306-312.
. Raatikainen, E., Rauhala, L., & Mäenpää, S., (2017). Qualified empathy. A key element for an empowerment professional Sosiaalipedagoginen Aikakauskirja. 18, 113-121.
. Goldberg, D.P., Oldehinkel, T., & Ormel, J. (1998). Why GHQ threshold varies from one
place to another. Psychol Med. 28(4), 915-921. Doi:10.1017/s0033291798006874.
. Rodriguez, N. Flores, R. T., London, E. F., Bingham, M. C., Myers, H. F., Arroyo, D. &
Rangel, A. (2019). A test for the main-effects, stress-buffering, stress-exacerbation and
effects models among Mexican-origin adults. Journal of Latinx Psychology. 7 (3) 212-
. Prather, A. A., (2020). Stress is a key to understanding many social determinants of health.
Health Affairs Forefront. Doi:10:1377/forefront.20200220.839562.
. Haseli, N., Ghahramani, L. & Nazari, M. (2013). General health status and its related
factors in the nurses working in the educational hospitals of Shiraz University of
Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Nurs Midwifery Studies2 (1) 146 – 151.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 International Journal of Natural Sciences: Current and Future Research Trends
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who submit papers with this journal agree to the following terms.
