The effect of psychoeducation program grounded on the professional socialization theory upon social skill levels of nursing students

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of psychoeducation program grounded on the professional socialization theory upon social skill levels of students. The study was performed in three stages. The first stage involved the determination of student stressors; the second stage involved the application of psychoeducation program and the third stage involved the acceptance of feedbacks aimed at the program with the help of a qualitative method. In the first stage, the data were collected through conducting a profound interview with 15 second-grade students who were determined with the maximum variety sampling. Inductive content analysis method was used for the evaluation of the data. As a result of the interviews, we determined four basic categories as student stressors, clinical practice, theoretical education, social and personal life, and relevant themes and sub-themes. The type of the study was quasi-experimental while investigating the effect of psychoeducational intervention, which was applied during the second stage of the study, upon social skill levels of students; and it had pretest-posttest control group design. The sample of this stage consisted of a total of 120 volunteer students (60 experimental and 60 control group). A psychoeducational program involving six sessions was applied on the experimental group. Social Skill Inventory was used in the data collection process. While independent samples t-test was used for the evaluation of the data, variance analysis (ANOVA) and bonferroni test were used for repeated measurements. Measurements were performed before and after the intervention during third and sixth months. While a significant increase was observed on social skill scores of students who participated in the psychoeducational group during the 3rd and 6th month follow-ups after the program, we observed no change in the control group. A significant difference was observed on social skill levels during the intragroup evaluation of the social skill inventory. Qualitative study method was used in the investigation of feedbacks of students aimed at the psychoeducational program, which was applied during the third stage of the study. The data were collected from 60 students attending group studies by using the document investigation method, which is among qualitative study methods. Inductive content analysis method was used in the data evaluation. Students expressed their views regarding the psychoeducational program under two titles as aimed at themselves and group. Students expressed that they experienced some positive changes at the end of group studies such as increase in self-regarding, safety, motivation and positive thought, skills like listening, empathy and self expression, and found a pleasure in examining the events, being bold, participating in an extracurricular activity and working with the group. On the other hand, they also complained about the excessive number of students in the group, extension of the session time, insufficiency of physical conditions of the session and perception of sessions as a counsel. It was suggested to organize the psychoeducational programs independently from lessons at schools that train nurses in order to develop the social skill levels of students. Keywords: Professional Socialization Process, Professional Identity, Stress of Nursing Students, Social Skills, Psychoeducation