Psychiatric nursing is characterized by repeated exposure to complex interpersonal encounters that require more than technical knowledge (Eltrass et al. 2026; Stevenson et al. 2015), yet the development of the relational competence needed to navigate these moments remains insufficiently theorized. Situations involving behavioural escalation, persistent medication requests and emotionally charged interactions demand that nurses interpret meaning, regulate their responses and act with precision under pressure (Stevenson et al. 2015). However, variability in these responses suggests differences in how that experience is processed and transformed into clinical capability. Clinical nursing practice in psychiatric and mental health facilities challenges nurses to constantly respond to highly acute behaviours of patients at a clinical juncture of safety, ethics and therapeutic care (Eltrass et al. 2026; Marlatt 1996; Sepahvand et al. 2025). Interestingly, patient behaviours that may initially appear as simple requests for medication often represent an interplay of unmet psychological needs, substance dependence, trauma histories and learned interaction patterns within healthcare systems that require nurses to see patients “in the most realistic light possible” (Greene 2012, 125). The ability of an individual to accurately perceive, interpret and respond to social and emotional cues is simply social intelligence (Greene 2012; Sepahvand et al. 2025). However, there seems to be a deeper level of social skills necessary to develop in nurses working in psychiatric inpatient facilities. Despite the relevance of social intelligence in psychiatric nursing practice through experiential learning, there seems to be inadequate evidence on how these learning processes may sufficiently interpret and inform practice. Additionally, Kolb's (1984) experiential learning model may provide a useful framework for understanding experiential social intelligence as a practice-developed competency rather than an inherent personal trait. This is particularly important in high-acuity psychiatric settings where nurses must navigate complex interpersonal interactions while preserving both patient and staff safety. For instance, Mokhber et al. (2012) found that more than 82% of psychiatric patients with drug-use history were involved in at least one self-harm behaviour, and Stevenson et al. (2015) also reported that 20.3% of nurses in psychiatric facilities experienced physical assault within their previous five work shifts. If nursing today is shifting from pure knowledge base towards development of advanced interpersonal skills (Eltrass et al. 2026), fundamental to patient safety and therapeutic engagement, then the significance of experiential social intelligence appears to be invaluable within the space of psychiatric nursing. Kolb (1984) theorized that learning is constant and occurs in four stages that repeat until the individual develops competency: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. Numerous studies have contextualized the framework in educational practice (Kolb 1984) with arguably less use in clinical psychiatric nursing where equally significant is the development of experiential social intelligence skills. In psychiatric nursing encounters, the stage of concrete experience is represented by direct interactions with patients exhibiting behaviours such as repeated medication requests, agitation, or emotional dysregulation, where nurses must act within constraints of safety and ethics (Bartlett et al. 2013; Marlatt 1996; Mokhber et al. 2012; Schumann et al. 2026). As nurses consciously or unconsciously evaluate the interaction, considering patient cues, their own emotional responses and the outcomes of their actions, these nurses reflect on their observation (Gummelt et al. 2025; Ko 2026). This reflection enables a shift from automatic reaction to deliberate sense-making, which is essential for refining socially intelligent responses in future encounters. The subsequent phases of abstract conceptualization and active experimentation in Kolb's Experiential Learning model translate reflection into evolving clinical practice. Nurses develop internal frameworks that reinterpret patient behaviours beyond surface-level assumptions, integrating insights about trauma, need and relational dynamics into their decision-making (Bartlett et al. 2013; Eltrass et al. 2026; Rushworth Lamb and Ginsburg 2018). In essence, Kolb (1984) succeeded in providing the foundation for understanding how experience is transformed into learning through reflection, conceptualization and behavioural experimentation. While Kolb's (1984) model explains how learning occurs through experience, experiential social intelligence explains how repeated psychiatric nursing encounters develop adaptive relational competence. In this editorial, the authors draw on the works of Kolb (1984) and Kaplan (2023) to define experiential social intelligence as the development of interpersonal competence through repeated social interaction, reflection, behavioural adaptation and experiential learning. The concept shifts attention from rigid behavioural responses towards adaptive relational competence in psychiatric nursing practice (Kaplan 2023; Stevenson et al. 2015). Rather than relying on fixed responses to predictable categories of patient behaviour (Greene 2012; Kaplan 2023), nurses develop the capacity to interpret each interaction as contextually unique. This includes recognizing subtle variations in affect, intent and environmental triggers that shape patient presentations such as agitation, withdrawal, paranoia, or help-seeking behaviour (Gummelt et al. 2025; Schumann et al. 2026). In this sense, competence is not measured by adherence to protocol alone but by the ability to think and respond fluidly within unfolding clinical encounters. Within psychiatric units, patient behaviours often present as fluidly complicating standardized response models. For example, a patient repeatedly requesting medication may simultaneously be expressing anxiety, mistrust, or attempts to regain control rather than simple drug-seeking behaviour (Mokhber et al. 2012; Sepahvand et al. 2025). Experiential social intelligence enables nurses to hold these ambiguities without prematurely categorizing behaviour, allowing for more accurate interpretation and therapeutic engagement (Gummelt et al. 2025; Kaplan 2023). Over time, this experiential learning builds clinical judgement that is responsive, strengthening the nurse's ability to manage complex interpersonal dynamics safely and effectively. Experiential social intelligence positions psychiatric nursing competence as an evolving process through continuous engagement with real clinical encounters rather than the application of static behavioural rules (Greene 2012; Kolb 1984; Eltrass et al. 2026). Each patient interaction functions as a situated learning moment in which nurses interpret complex behavioural cues, test relational responses and refine their clinical judgement through reflection and adaptation (Gummelt et al. 2025). When this experiential cycle is actively engaged, it fosters responsiveness, emotional attunement and more precise therapeutic decision-making in the face of ambiguous or fluctuating patient behaviours (Kaplan 2023). However, when the cycle is reduced to routine action, nurses risk defaulting to rigid or reactive patterns that may limit therapeutic effectiveness and relational depth. Strengthening this experiential learning process is therefore central to cultivating experiential social intelligence as a core psychiatric nursing competence within the individual nurses. To illustrate how experiential social intelligence operates in real-time clinical complexity, consider a psychiatric inpatient repeatedly requesting additional doses of prescribed benzodiazepine shortly after administration, despite clear documentation that dosing limits have been reached. Over successive interactions, the patient's tone shifts from persistent questioning to visible agitation, pacing and escalating verbal hostility, stating that staff are “not helping” and becoming increasingly confrontational when limits are reinforced. The nurse must interpret whether the behaviour reflects unmanaged anxiety, withdrawal-related distress, or emerging manipulation of the care environment. In the moment, the nurse experiences internal tension and heightened alertness but deliberately regulates emotional response, reassesses the interaction cues and adjusts communication by acknowledging the patient's distress while maintaining medication boundaries and redirecting towards alternative coping strategies and clinical review. The interaction remains unstable, requiring continuous recalibration to prevent escalation while preserving both patient and staff safety. This conceptual editorial relies primarily on theoretical integration rather than empirical validation within actual psychiatric nursing settings. While Kolb's (1984) Experiential Learning Theory provides a strong interpretive lens for understanding the development of experiential social intelligence, the framework has not yet been operationalized or tested to determine how experiential social intelligence manifests across different clinical contexts, levels of nurse experience, or patient populations. Additionally, the editorial does not account for institutional, cultural, or organizational factors that may shape or constrain how nurses engage in experiential learning cycles in practice. Future studies may therefore focus on empirical exploration of this framework through qualitative and mixed methods designs, examining how nurses actually process, reflect on and adapt to complex patient behaviours over time. Such research could also investigate training interventions designed to intentionally strengthen experiential learning cycles and measure their impact on therapeutic outcomes, clinical judgement, and patient safety in psychiatric care. While experiential social intelligence is shaped by broader system-level factors such as supervision structures, debriefing practices and institutional support mechanisms that can influence reflective learning in practice, it primarily develops through individual engagement with clinical encounters. Overall, this editorial used Kolb's (1984) Experiential Learning Theory to explain how experiential social intelligence develops through repeated patient encounters, reflection, behavioural adaptation and learning integration. In this context, experiential social intelligence essentially positions psychiatric nursing as an evolving relational process in which meaning is continuously constructed through experience, reflection and adaptive action. By framing patient behaviours as dynamic and context-dependent, the editorial underscores the need for nurses to develop fluid interpretive skills that support therapeutic responsiveness in complex clinical environments. Ultimately, experiential social intelligence is proposed as a foundational competence that emerges through sustained engagement with practice, reinforcing the view that effective psychiatric nursing is grounded in lived experience transformed into clinical wisdom. This editorial, therefore, is a clarion call on psychiatric nursing educators, clinical leaders and healthcare institutions to emphasize the need for nurses to develop experiential social intelligence as a core professional competency through repeated engagement. Nurses in high-acuity psychiatric settings must continuously transform difficult interpersonal encounters into adaptive clinical responses that preserve both patient and staff safety. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
Adjei et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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