Emotional intelligence among nurses in Africa: a systematic review on the prevalence, determinants, and interventions

Emotional intelligence (EI) is broadly defined as a mental capacity to perceive, understand, evaluate and manage emotions in oneself and others. It represents a group of abilities that affects clinical decision-making, interpersonal communication, stress management and the general quality of patient care. Nursing care depends on how nurses recognize, regulate and express their emotions (Almansour, 2023; Nair & Lee, 2016; Lawal & Idemudia, 2017). Nursing practice is emotionally demanding because of heavy workloads, uncertainty and continuous time pressure. This makes EI a critical ability that carefully guides cognitive processes and exceeds basic technical competence (Nagel et al., 2016; Batran, 2024; Shubayr & Dailah, 2025). Nurses working in Africa face severe resource constraints, high patient-to-nurse ratios, workplace understaffing and a high disease burden which are unique when compared to other countries (Chikobvu & Harunavamwe, 2022; Lawal & Idemudia, 2017). Emotional preparedness acts as a central workforce means and a powerful internal protective element in such unstable environments. The basic principles of EI include self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills (Goleman, 2017). These provide nurses with vital adjustable coping techniques to guide systemic hardships and reduce the risk of burnout syndrome (Turjuman & Alilyyani, 2023; Obiagaeri & Georgy, 2020; Mdekazi et al., 2025). In the African context, enhanced EI is linked to positive job satisfaction, self-efficacy, work engagement and resilience among public hospital nurses (Tagoe & Quarshie, 2017; Adamu et al., 2024). Despite the increasing global agreement on the importance of EI in healthcare, thorough syntheses focusing on African nursing are limited and methodologically scattered (Omoronyia et al., 2020; Mdekazi et al., 2025). A broad map of EI across African nursing education and practice is necessary as confirmed by researchers such as Asiamah (2017) and Mdekazi et al. (2025). To help beneficiaries incorporate relational competencies into demanding health systems, it is important to understand the prevalence of EI, its determinants and effective interventions within the African healthcare settings (WHO, 2021; Duncan, 2022).