Emotional intelligence as a mediator between spiritual care-giving competency and core competencies in Chinese nursing interns: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The development of nursing interns' fundamental competencies should be a top focus because they represent an essential reserve for nursing professionals. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between spiritual care-giving competency (SCG) and nursing core competencies (NCC) among Chinese nursing interns, adopting a competency-based education (CBE) perspective, additionally, the study aims to examine how emotional intelligence (EI) serves as a mediator in this relationship.

Methods: A nationwide online survey was completed by 1811 Chinese nursing interns at vocational colleges between June and July 2022 as part of a multi-site, cross-sectional, web-based study.