The Current Situation And Influencing Factors Of Nursing Students’ Communication Ability During Practical Clinical Training

Objectives:(1)To investigate clinical communication behavior, Treatment communication skills, and interpersonal communication skills of nursing students during practical clinical training.(2)To survey the correlation relationship among clinical communication behavior, treatment communication skills and interpersonal communication skills of nursing students.(3)To analyse the influence of the students’education level, gender, duties, number of siblings, living circumstances and standardized training experience on their communication ability.Methods:A cluster sample of all nursing students from22nursing colleges or universities were recruited. Communication ability of these participants was evaluated by4questionnaires for demographic data, clinical communication behavior, treatment communication skills and interpersonal communication skills at the beginning of clinical practical session. Item scores from clinical communication behavior, treatment communication skills and interpersonal communication skills were calculated with a range of1-5.Domain scores were calculated by multiplying the mean of all item scores. Higher scores indicate better communication skills as reflected by the items/domains.All data was input into SPSS13.0.The content validity was examined by the scale’s formation process. Cronbach’s α、test-retest reliability were used to examine the reliability. Descriptive statistics,t test,Pearson correlation analysis were also used to analyze the data.Results:(1)The stability and accuracy of the questionnaires were established with an overall content validity index of0.78, the Cronbach’s a index ranged from0.872to0.951, and the test-retest reliability ranged from0.85to0.89.(2)311(99.7%) effective questionnaires from312participants were received.(3)The score of clinical communication behavior, treatment communication skills, and interpersonal communication skills was3.77±0.35,4.29±0.34,3.85±0.40respectively. The Pearson analysis revealed significantly positive correlations among clinical communication behavior,treatment communication skills, and interpersonal communication skills of nursing students.(4)The Pearson analysis revealed significantly positive correlations between communication abilities and the students’education level,duties,number of siblingS,lliving circumstances and standardized training experience on their communication ability.Results demonstrated that88.1%of the nursing students require extra training in clinical communication behavior, treatment communication skills, and interpersonal communication skills.Conclusion:(1)The questionnaires for clinical communication behavior, treatment communication skills and interpersonal communication skills has been proved have high reliability and fair validity in this study.(2)The Pearson analysis revealed significantly positive correlations among clinical communication behavior,treatment communication skills, and interpersonal communication skills of nursing students.(3)Multiple factors,including education level,duties,living circumstances and standardized training experience significantly affect nursing students’ communication abilities. The number of siblings is an important factor for affecting the treatment communication.(4)Most nursing students need communication skill training. Our study suggested a need to widely establish a communication course or clinical communication training program to improve nursing students’communication skills.