Social intelligence and coping strategies for difficult work situations in the context of medical practice

Introduction to the issue

A key characteristic of the medical profession is the ability to work effectively as a team, as the provision of high-quality and professional health care is partly determined by the ability to work in multidisciplinary teams. Effective functioning in a team, in which cooperation leads to the achievement of set goals, requires developed social competences. This social aspect of the work environment includes the concept of social intelligence, which represents a set of developed social skills enabling an individual to successfully navigate and act in social interactions.

The concept of social intelligence was first formulated by Thorndike in 1920, when he characterized it as the ability to understand men, women, boys and girls, manage them and behave reasonably in interpersonal relationships. Morin (2020) emphasizes that social intelligence is not an innate disposition, but a set of competencies that develop over the course of an individual's life. He considers a socially intelligent person to be someone who can adequately interpret the emotional and social expressions of others, conduct cultured and meaningful conversations, and at the same time appear confident even in situations involving larger social groups. At the same time, this author states that individuals equipped in this way have interpersonal skills facilitating the establishment, maintenance and further development of prosocial interpersonal relationships, as well as the implementation of effective communication. Frankovský and Birknerová (2017) point out that social intelligence is more pronounced on a practical level than in theoretical conceptualization. It is therefore a construct whose level can be identified primarily through the observation of behavior in specific interpersonal situations and in the context of solving challenging social stimuli.

The healthcare environment is characterized by a high level of workload and the frequency of complicated situations that require the activation of a wide range of social and interpersonal competencies of workers. Doolittle (2021) states that coping strategies are a set of cognitive and behavioral mechanisms that individuals apply when under stress. These strategies can be differentiated into functional, i.e. positive (e.g. active search for solutions, problem orientation) and dysfunctional, i.e. negative (e.g. avoiding problems). Empirical findings in the field of stress management among healthcare workers confirm that positive strategies contribute to the reduction of work stress, while negative strategies are a significant risk factor for the development of burnout syndrome and other psychological or somatic problems. Zhu et al. (2022) point out that the choice of coping strategies is significantly influenced by individual differences, which also include personality characteristics. At the same time, the authors state that, for example, neuroticism – one of the dimensions of the Big Five model, defined by increased emotional instability, a tendency to experience anxiety and susceptibility to negative affects – can increase the subjective perception of stress. This mechanism subsequently weakens the effectiveness of applied load management strategies.

Research methodology and research sample

The study carried out had a descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative design and was aimed at analyzing the relationship between social intelligence and the ability to handle challenging situations in the medical profession. Data collection took place in the period from January to April 2024. The research group consisted of 145 doctors working in various medical facilities in the territory of the Slovak Republic, who expressed informed consent to participate in the research. The average age of the respondents was 31 years, the average total length of professional experience was 5.73 years, and the average length of experience at the current workplace was 4.02 years. The research was carried out in accordance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The participants were informed about the objectives, course and significance of the study before the data collection began. Participation in the research was voluntary and without financial or material compensation. The respondents were assured of anonymity and confidentiality of the processing of the obtained data, which were used exclusively for research purposes.

The research used standardized psychodiagnostic tools - the MESI (Measurement of Social Intelligence) questionnaire and the CSI (Coping Strategy Indicator) questionnaire. These instruments were supplemented with items investigating the basic socio-demographic and work characteristics of the respondents, namely age, gender, education, total length of professional experience, length of experience at the current workplace, type of workplace, nature of shift work and type of organization, which were ascertained through a separate part of the research instrument.

The MESI questionnaire consists of 21 items rated on a five-point scale (0 – never, 4 – very often). The items are focused on the three factors of social intelligence identified by the authors Frankovský and Birknerová (2014): manipulation (ability to influence others), empathy and social irritability.

The CSI - Coping Strategy Indicator questionnaire (Amirkhan, 1990) contains 33 items that refer to different ways of coping with stressful situations. In the initial part of the questionnaire, the respondents recalled and briefly described a specific difficult situation, to which the individual items were subsequently linked. The questionnaire is divided into three subscales representing stress management strategies: seeking social support, problem solving, and avoidance. Respondents' answers were recorded on a four-point Likert scale (1 – yes, 2 – rather yes, 3 – rather no, 4 – no).

The collected data were statistically processed and analyzed using PSPP version 25 and Microsoft Excel software. As part of descriptive statistics, frequency and descriptive statistical methods were applied, namely absolute and relative frequencies (N, %), measures of central tendency expressed by arithmetic mean (M), measure of variability through standard deviation (SD), as well as minimum and maximum values ​​of monitored variables. The non-parametric statistical method Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to verify the relationships between the variables within the bivariate analysis. The statistical evaluation of the results was carried out at the level of statistical significance α = 0.05.

Analysis of the relationship between social intelligence attributes and coping styles

The aim of the analysis was to assess the relationship between the level of social intelligence and preferred coping strategies in difficult situations. The non-parametric Spearman correlation coefficient was used to verify the relationships between the observed variables. As shown in Table 1, several statistically significant negative correlations were identified.

A statistically significant negative relationship was found between the strategy of seeking social support and all factors of social intelligence, namely empathy (r = −0.173; p < 0.05), manipulation (r = −0.339; p < 0.01) and social irritability (r = −0.378; p < 0.01). These findings indicate that as the level of need for social support increases, there is a decrease in the level of manipulation and social irritability.

Other statistically significant negative correlations were noted between problem-solving strategy and social intelligence factors, namely manipulation (r = −0.291; p < 0.01) and social irritability (r = −0.445; p < 0.01). These results point to the fact that individuals with a higher orientation to active problem solving show lower levels of manipulative behavior and social irritability.

A statistically significant negative relationship was also identified between the avoidance strategy and social irritability (r = −0.291; p < 0.01), indicating that respondents preferring the avoidance strategy in challenging situations tend to have lower levels of social irritability.

Table 1. Correlation analysis between the level of social intelligence and ways of handling difficult situations

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Discussion

The results of our analysis showed several significant negative correlations between individual factors of social intelligence and preferred coping strategies, which provides important insights into how healthcare professionals approach solving challenging interpersonal situations. The findings indicate that a higher level of social intelligence is associated with a reduction in the use of those coping approaches that rely on the use of help from the external environment or indicate a tendency towards passivity.

The negative significant relationship between the strategy of seeking social support and all assessed factors of social intelligence (empathy, manipulation, social irritability) indicates that individuals with higher social competences show less need to actively seek support in stressful situations. This finding is consistent with knowledge about the role of social intelligence in stress resistance, according to which socio-emotional competencies increase autonomy and reduce the burden of social support (Troneci, Shabsigh, 2022). At the same time, it can be assumed that individuals with higher social intelligence have more adaptive emotion regulation mechanisms, which enable them to more effectively manage challenging situations without an explicit need for external help.

Significant negative correlations between the problem-solving strategy and the factors of manipulation and social irritability indicate that respondents inclined to active coping show a lower tendency towards manipulation strategies or irritability in social interaction. This relationship is supported by theoretical models according to which adaptive coping strategies — especially problem-solving orientation — are linked to more effective emotional and cognitive regulation and more stable social functioning (Theodoratou & Argyrides, 2024). These mechanisms are particularly important in the healthcare environment, where active problem solving contributes to effective clinical practice and the prevention of overload.

An interesting finding is the negative relationship between avoidance strategy and social irritability. Although avoidance is traditionally considered maladaptive coping, our results suggest that respondents who prefer this strategy may not be as prone to social irritability. A possible explanation is that avoidance can reduce social tension in the short term, and thus also the manifestations of irritability. Similar dynamics are described by studies devoted to the role of personality traits and coping mechanisms: for example, neuroticism is strongly associated with maladaptive coping and social dysregulation (Yusoff et al., 2021), but the level of irritability can also be modulated by other factors, such as the level of emotional intelligence or the level of psychological burden.

The overall results correspond with the literature that points to the important role of individual differences in the regulation of stress and social behavior. Oussi and Bouvet (2023) demonstrated that neuroticism combined with maladaptive coping strategies predicts increased symptomatology of anxiety disorders through impaired emotion regulation. Similarly, Liu et al. (2023) emphasize the important role of positive coping styles as mediators of the ability to manage social stressors. These findings confirm that the quality of coping strategies has a fundamental impact on social functioning and overall psychological resilience.

Conclusion

In the context of our study, it is possible to think in the sense that higher social intelligence is related to more adaptive approaches to coping with stress — including a lower tendency to manipulative behavior, social irritability or excessive seeking of social support. At the same time, our findings point to the existence of a complex relationship between social competences and coping strategies, since even traditionally negative strategies, such as avoidance, can be associated with reduced social tension in certain contexts. These results have practical implications for the development of psychological support and social skills training programs for healthcare workers. Strengthening social and emotional intelligence could contribute to more effective management of workload, reduction of conflicts and improvement of professional functioning in a demanding clinical environment.

Author: PhDr. Valéria Parová, PhD. Pavel Jozef Šafárik University, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Nursing

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