An analysis of nursing students’ communication skills”, International Journal of Current Research

Introduction: The present study was planned to assess communication skills of nursing students. Method: The study is a descriptive study. Sample for the study included 202 nursing students attending Artvin Çoruh University Health Academy. “Socio-demographic characteristics form” and “Communication Skills Assessment Scale” were used as data collection tools. Findings: Communication skills mean scores of the students demonstrated differences based on the age group. Mean score for females was 99.797 ± 1.108 and it was 96.405 ± 1.651 for males, and the difference between females and males was not significant. Although communication skills mean scores for the students increased with their seniority, the differences were not statistically significant. More than half of the students (55.5%) graduated from regular high schools, while the rest (46.5%) graduated from other high schools, and there were no significant differences between the groups based on mean communication skills scores. A large portion of the sample lived in city centers (46.5%) and had higher mean communication skills scores compared to those lived in smaller settlements, however the difference was not significant. Although mean communication scores of students that belong to nuclear families were higher than the students who belong to extended families, there was no significant difference between the mean scores of these groups. Majority of the families of the students had middle or high level income (85.6%), while 14.4% had low level income, but communication skills did not differ based on income level. Parents’ educational status was primary, middle school, and college, respectively, however communication skills of the students did not differ based on their parents’ educational background. Result: It was determined that students’ communication skills did not differ based on age, gender, level of the class attended, domicile, high school graduated, type of family, family income level, and parents’ educational background.