A Comparative Study of Emotional Competence among Chronic Disease Patients

Keeping in the view the relevance of psychological factors the study was undertaken to examine relationship emotional competence among the patients suffering from different type of chronic disease. The study was also intended to see difference in emotional competence, among the patients suffering from different type of chronic disease. Three different groups of chronic disease patients would differ on the level of emotional competence. The study was conducted on two hundred six (206) chronic disease patients. The participants were taken from different public and private hospitals of Delhi NCR. Out of 206 participants, 109 were male chronic disease patients and remaining 97 were female chronic disease patients. The age of the participants range 25-60 years. All participants were selected for the study from the hospital’s OPD department, various wards, or discharge rooms. The intensity of the challenges mentioned by the patients or their caretakers was used to divide them into three groups. The patients collected from the OPD were assigned to Group I since the majority of them were observed attending hospitals for routine check-ups just to consult with doctors for updates. Those who were contacted from discharge rooms were placed in group II; these patients reported frequent hospital admissions as a result of exacerbating their condition. Individuals in Group III had been hospitalised in the past few weeks. In group I (Diabetics/Hypertension) consisted eighty male and female both. The group II (Cardiovascular/Asthma) consists of sixty-five (65) male and female participants. and group III (Chronic kidney disease/Arthritis) was consist of sixty-one (61) male and female participates from private and public hospital among the groups. Emotional Competence Assessment Scale (ECAS) by Paiva and Kumar in the year 2009 was used to see level of emotional competence of chronic disease patients. The obtained data were analysed with the help of SPSS using various statistical technique like mean, standard deviation (SD), ANOVA, Post hoc analysis, correlation etc. The obtained results were interpreted and discussed in the light of hypotheses. The study was presuming difference in the level of emotional competence in the patients suffering from different types of chronic diseases. From the result it was obvious that patients belonging to three different groups were significantly differed with each other.