Introduction:

Nursing professionals show higher prevalence figures of emotional professional burnout, so having valid and reliable instruments that allow knowing their emotional intelligence is a priority.

Objectives:

To evaluate the construct validity of the Wong-Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) in nurses in their major training in Peruvian context, as well as to examine the absence of bias, identify the level of true variance, and interpret the scores based on divergent and convergent correlations with other constructs.

Methods:

A series of instruments were applied to a sample of 154 university students from Lima, Peru, in order to reach the objectives. Those instruments were the WLEIS for emotional intelligence, the 2-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 for depression, the Single-Item Self-Esteem Scale, and the Single Item Measure of Social Support.

Results:

According to the analysis, the instrument was indicated to have an adequate validity to express specific behaviors of the emotional intelligence model, as well as acceptable psychometric properties regarding the internal structure, reliability and relationship with other constructs.

Conclusions:

The instrument can be an important tool to know the emotional intelligence of Peruvian nursing professionals. The implications in terms of prevention and creation of intervention treatments based on the results obtained in the instrument that has been shown to be psychometrically appropriate could make it possible to improve the quality of life of these professionals.

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