Depressive disorders affect individual's thoughts, feelings, and social interactions. Enhancing emotional competencies of depressed individuals may alleviate their suffering. Purpose: This study aimed to compare depression severity and emotional intelligence before and after emotional intelligence training in patients with depressive disorders. Methods: A nonrandomized trial (one-group pretest-posttest) research design was applied to 69 patients purposively recruited. The patients' sociodemographic and clinical data were collected. The Beck Depression Inventory-II and Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form were completed before and immediately after an 8-weeks of focused weekly group training. Results: A significant improvement in the scores of well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability; total emotional intelligence scores; and total depression scores was perceived after training (Z = 5.601, 4.398, 5.686, and 3.516; 4.943; and 2.387, respectively). Implications for Nursing Practice: As emotional intelligence can be learned; it may be a target for interventions when dealing with patients with depressive disorders by strengthening their emotional intelligence.
Keywords: depressive disorders; emotional intelligence training.