The relationship between cognitive flexibility, emotion regulation and effective communication skills in pharmaceutical representatives

The aim of this study is to examine cognitive flexibility, emotion regulation and effective communication skills of pharmaceutical representatives by various variables. In this study, relational survey model was used among quantitative methods. The population of the study consisted of individuals residing in Adana province and working as pharmaceutical representatives. The sample of the study consisted of 220 participants aged 18 and over selected by purposive sampling method. Socio-Demographic Information Form, Cognitive Flexibility Scale, Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Scale and Effective Communication Skills Scales were used as data collection tools. According to the results of the study, significant positive correlations were found between cognitive flexibility, self-efficacy and interpersonal emotion regulation skills. The data obtained indicate that as cognitive flexibility increases, interpersonal emotion regulation capacity also increases. When the relationship between communication skills and cognitive flexibility levels was analyzed, it was found that there was a significant relationship between these two variables. An increase in cognitive flexibility level was associated with an improvement in communication skills. In addition, a positive and significant relationship was found between interpersonal emotion regulation and communication skills, indicating that the development of emotion regulation skills is parallel to the development of communication skills. Since cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation abilities were observed to be related to communication skills, practitioners can work on improving clients' communication skills. This may enable clients to be more successful in their social interactions.