Acting to teach communication skills to nurses

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Nursing Education
• Communication Skills Training

Background:

• Interpersonal and communication skills are vital for nursing students, yet many report inadequate preparation.
• Patient-centered communication is linked to better patient outcomes and experiences.
• Traditional training may not fully equip nursing students with essential communication competencies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of an acting-based workshop for developing core communication and interpersonal skills in nursing students.
• To explore an innovative, experiential approach to communication training in healthcare education.

Main Methods:

• An acting-based workshop, using classic drama exercises, was developed and implemented.
• The workshop was delivered to over 200 preclinical nursing students by the course creator and an instructor without acting background.
• Participant self-efficacy was measured using a 5-point Likert scale.

Main Results:

• The majority of participants reported enhanced skills in self-awareness, observation, teamwork, flexibility, and communication (verbal and nonverbal).
• Improvements were noted in trust, mindfulness, body language awareness, active listening, and emotional sensitivity.
• High self-efficacy ratings indicated the workshop's success in skill development.

Conclusions:

• Acting-based training is an efficacious method for improving preclinical nursing students' communication and interpersonal skills.
• This experiential approach provides a conducive learning environment for developing essential healthcare communication competencies.
• Educators without formal acting training can effectively facilitate these workshops, suggesting scalability.