Satisfaction with social support as a mediating resource between trait emotional intelligence and self-care agency among healthcare professionals: a cross-sectional study in Spain

Healthcare professionals are exposed to occupational stressors that threaten their well-being. Supporting healthcare professionals’ self-care is important in demanding clinical environments. Trait emotional intelligence (EI) and interpersonal resources may be relevant to self-care agency, but the pathways linking these factors remain insufficiently understood.

This study examined the associations of trait EI with self-care agency, focusing on the potential mediating roles of dispositional mindfulness and satisfaction with social support. This cross-sectional study included healthcare professionals from four regions of Spain who completed an online survey. Regression analysis and structural equation modelling were used to examine five hypotheses concerning the direct, indirect, moderating and mediating associations among trait EI, dispositional mindfulness, satisfaction with social support, and self-care agency.

In the parallel mediation model, trait EI was positively associated with self-care agency, and satisfaction with social support showed a significant indirect association between trait EI and self-care agency. The indirect association through dispositional mindfulness was not statistically significant. The direct association between trait EI and self-care agency remained significant after accounting for both mediators.

No significant moderating effect of satisfaction with social support was found in the model. These findings highlight satisfaction with social support as a potentially relevant interpersonal resource in understanding self-care agency among healthcare professionals. However, the indirect association through social support was modest, and dispositional mindfulness did not show a significant mediating role in the parallel model.

Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the relationships between these resources and self-care agency and to determine their implications for supporting healthcare professionals’ well-being. Open access publishing facilitated by Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, as part of the Springer Nature – Crue Spanish Universities and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). This research is part of the project entitled “CONHECTATE: Caring Of iNterdisciplinary Health professionals’ Emotional Competences To Achieve The Excellence”, funded by the Plan de Investigación Universidad de Navarra (PIUNA 2020–27).

The funders had no role in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or manuscript writing. Medicine and Surgery Program, Doctoral School, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain Valentina Urtubia-Herrera & Blanca Collado-González Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Instituto de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain Nursing Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain María Victoria Navarta-Sánchez & Ana María Palmar-Santos Nursing and Health Care Group, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro Segovia de Arana (IDIPHISA), Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain Nursing Department, Princess Health Research Institute (IIS-Princesa), Madrid, Spain Psychological Processes in Education and Health Group, School of Education and Psychology, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain Department of Basic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain Department of Psychology (Institut for Psykologi), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Correspondence to María Victoria Navarta-Sánchez. There are no competing interests to declare.