Authors

  1. Jimenez Marcos, Maria Anunciacion MSc
  2. Insausti Serrano, Ana Maria PhD
  3. Trandafir, Paula Camelia PhD

Article Content

In a master's level course with 9 students, 4 physical therapists, 2 nurses, 2 sports professionals, and 1 social worker, in a university in Spain, because of the situation created by the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, the class started by sharing their experiences in the first and second waves of the pandemic. Of the 9 participants, 6 work in the area of health care or social health care in primary care, elderly care homes, hospital wards converted into areas for patients with SARS-CoV-2, or private homes. During the class, they expressed an explosion of emotions such as frustration, powerlessness, fear, tension, anxiety, rage, and anger. Two of the students had lost close relatives and were therefore still grieving, 2 needed psychological attention, and a third one became aware that he/she needed professional help. Upon sharing their experiences, they identified their emotions, understood them, and talked about how they were handling them. They were introduced to a model of emotional intelligence, and they evaluated their own levels of anxiety and handling emotions using 2 validated tools. The group asked for more time for this type of training, particularly during the difficult time of the pandemic, concluding that sharing emotions and helping to redirect them is a type of emotional intelligence that is effective for handling emotional crises.