Abstract
This study examined the association between emotional intelligence (EI), personality, and its relation to health-related quality of life in 62 patients with cancer. Specially, the predictive and incremental validity of EI for predicting health-related quality of life beyond the level attributable to personality was examined. Emotional intelligence showed unique and significant variance in prediction of different health-related quality of life dimensions. These findings provide preliminary evidences that EI abilities are useful additions in the field of psycho-oncology. The potential value of including EI programs to complement current psychoeducational approaches aimed at preserving or improving cancer patient health-related quality of life is discussed.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express their thanks to Dr. James R. Zabora and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this article.