The effect of social intelligence on students' communication skills: Fırat University case

It is known that nurses should be equipped with social intelligence and communication skills in order to perform nursing profession effectively. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the development of these two dimensions during nursing education. For this purpose, necessary precautions and arrangements should be taken both in the preparation and implementation of the curriculum. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of social intelligence level on communication skills of nursing students. In addition, it is aimed to reveal whether social intelligence levels and communication skills differ according to socio-demographic characteristics. This research is designed according to descriptive and relational survey model which is one of the quantitative research designs. The population of the study consists of the students studying in the Nursing Department of Fırat University Faculty of Health Sciences in Elazığ in 2017-2018 academic year. The sample consists of the first and fourth year students of the nursing department. Personal Information Form, Tromso Social Intelligence Scale and Communication Skills Inventory were used as data collection tools. Statistical analysis of the data was performed by SPSS 22 package program. As a result of the research, it was determined that both social intelligence levels and communication skills levels of the students were moderate. As a result of comparing social intelligence levels and communication skills with socio-demographic variables; No significant difference was found in terms of gender, class level, long term settlement variables. A significant difference was found according to the socio-economic level of the family.