Investigating the effect of nurses' emotional literacylevels on the pain management of surgical pati̇ents

The nurse should know how to deal with and respond to emotions in the patient care context. This includes both managing their own emotions, which may condition the care provided, and managing the emotional needs of their patients. This study was conducted to examine the effect of emotional literacy levels of nurses working in a surgical ward on pain management of surgical patients. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, and correlational study. The sample of the study included 330 nurses. Data collection forms included Nurse Introductory Information Form, Emotional Literacy Skills Scale and Self-Efficacy Scale in Pain Management'. The research data were analysed using SPSS 27 software. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach Alpha coefficient, independent sample t-test, Kruskal Wallis-H, Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis were used. In line with the findings obtained in the study, it was determined that the participants had good levels of emotional literacy (125.70±12.68) and self-efficacy in pain management (87.95±11.43). It was determined that the nurses gave the most treatment applications to the patients who were postoperative. A positive and significant relationship was found between Self-Efficacy in Pain Management Scale and Emotional Literacy Scale (r=,377; p=,000). Nurses need to improve their emotional and empathy skills in order to provide more effective care to patients. It is recommended to plan and implement interventions to increase the emotional literacy and pain management levels of nurses in nursing education curricula and health institutions.