Relationship between Communication Skills, Mental Health and Self-esteem among Nursing Students at a Medical Sciences University in Hamadan, Iran

Abstract

Communication is considered to be one of the central concepts in nursing and a prominent part of practising this profession. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between communication skills, mental health and self-esteem among nursing students at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in Hamadan, Iran. A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted in 2018 on 320 undergraduate nursing students who were selected using a stratified random sampling method. The data was gathered using three self-administered questionnaires, namely, the Queendom Communication Skills Test, the Goldberg Mental Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. The data was analysed using R.V4.0.2. Using the elastic net method, mental health, self-esteem and age were shown to be associated with communication skills over 1 000 repetitions of the model. Communication skills were significantly associated with the three subscales of mental health (p < 0.001), self-esteem (p < 0.01), and age (p < 0.05). Regarding the significant relationship between communication skills, mental health and self-esteem of nursing students, it is recommended to organise self-esteem building and focus on mental health promotion to promote communication skills among nursing students.