Impact of work aspects on communication, emotional intelligence and empathy in nursing *

ABSTRACT Objective: to assess the impact of the type of contract and seniority of nursing staff on their attitudes towards communication, emotional intelligence and empathy. Methods: the instruments measuring attitudes towards communication, empathy and emotional intelligence. The study sample was composed of 450 nurses from 7 hospitals. To explore the effect of the variables studied, one-factor ANOVA test, Pearson correlations and hierarchical multiple linear regression models were performed according to the type of contract. Results: there are statistically significant differences between the variables studied according to the type of contract. More specifically, the nursing staff with permanent contract showed higher scores in the cognitive dimension of the scale attitudes towards communication. Likewise, the highest correlations were found among the dimensions of attitudes towards communication in all the groups. At the same time, seniority was positively related to emotional intelligence in the interim and negatively related to empathy in the permanent contract. Finally, regarding the regression models, it was observed that the perspective taken is the main predictor of each dimension of attitudes towards communication in all the groups, regardless of the type of contract. Conclusion: positive working conditions (job security, permanent contract and seniority) have been found to influence the communication skills in the patient-nurse relationship.