Protocol for Scoping Review of Emotional Intelligence Research in Africa

Nurses are very important in promoting the health and well-being of a population. The delivery of quality work by nurses requires continuous monitoring, evaluation and oversight conducted by an experienced and highly qualified and effective nursing managers to ensure that subordinates are performing their required job duties. Nurse Managers apply unique leadership styles to be effective as healthcare leaders. However, a nursing leader's emotional intelligence impacts how successful a nursing leader is in carrying out day-to-day activities. A nursing leader's emotional intelligence is a nursing leader's ability to recognize their own emotions and those of others and to wield them well to bring about positive change. The healthcare industry requires changes in behavior, particularly in the field of nursing, and the nursing manager's ability to initiate these changes requires a combination of leadership style, personal emotions, and perceptions of others to influence such changes to be successful in getting others to do assigned tasks meet if they have strong emotional intelligence. The combination of logical and emotional intelligence helps them deal with complex situations in the current healthcare system. Evidence suggests that most nurses neglect their emotional intelligence and that of others and focus solely on their leadership style when leading subordinates. The biggest problems nurses encounter in delivering quality healthcare services to patients are attributed to the lack of synergy between emotional intelligence and leadership styles. Information on the impact of nurses' emotional intelligence on their leadership style is insufficient in Africa. This paper provides a protocol to review all available research data on the impact of emotional intelligence in caregivers in Africa, to assess previous work and, where appropriate, to identify and fill gaps in order to increase the body of knowledge, particularly emotional intelligence and nursing leadership styles. Conclusion: Researchers expect to find studies of emotional intelligence that will enhance the knowledge of nurse managers to effectively make appropriate decisions that can improve nursing job performance in the healthcare industry in Africa. Systematic review registration: Research registry UID: 7709 The Objective of review: To conduct a scoping review on the impact(s) of emotional intelligence of nurse managers' leadership in Africa. Research questions: This review's key research question will be: To date what range of evidence on emotional intelligence of Nurse Managers in Africa exists within the last ten years? The following are the sub-research questions for this suggested review: 1. Is there evidence on the level of nurse managers’ emotional intelligence in Africa? 2. Is there evidence on the impact of emotional intelligence on nurse managers’ effectiveness? 3. Is there evidence on the impact of emotional intelligence on nurse managers’ performance? Purpose of review: This review will enable nursing managers to gain much deeper knowledge and update the current information about nursing managers' emotional intelligence in relation to their leadership. The influence of nursing managers' emotional intelligence on job performance, subordinates and decision-making could be assessed. Systematic review registration: This review will be registered with the Research Registry for Systematic Reviews.