Background

It is known that personal resources such as emotional intelligence (EI) can be developed. We need more longitudinal research about personal resources that can strengthen well-being at work. We developed a program aiming at enhancing personal resources.

Aims

The aim of the study was to examine whether there are changes in the level and relationships of EI, resilience, and WE from baseline to the end of a six-month program. We compared differences between occupations to examine if program had different effect on different occupations and what may explain the differences. 

Method

Participants were from three occupations (N=47): school principals (n=19, man 12, mean age 54, master’s degree 79%), supervisors in accommodation and catering (n=13, man 5, mean age 33, secondary school 54%), and sport coaches (n=15, man 12, mean age 37, bachelor’s degree 40%) who all worked in area of Northern Karelia in Finland. Chi-Squared test was conducted to see differences between demographic variables (age, gender, education, participation activity). Kruskal-Wallis’s test was conducted to measure differences between occupations on EI, resilience, and WE on baseline and at end to see whether intervention effects differently on different occupations. 

Results

At baseline, school principals were oldest (p<.001) and had highest education level (p<.001). Significant differences were found between occupations in baseline measurements (p< .05). School principals had higher EI than supervisors (p<.05) and sport coaches had higher EI than supervisors (p<.05) at baseline. However, groups did not differ on EI at the end (p>.05). Occupations did not differ from each other in resilience and WE. 

Conclusion

Preliminarily, it seems that some changes between EI and occupation did happen during the program. Difference between EI and occupation may be explainable by school principals’ higher age and higher education. Moreover, slight increase on supervisors EI causes statistical significance to disappear.