title: An evaluation of nursing students' communication ability during practical clinical training.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate communication abilities and other influential factors on nursing students at the beginning of clinical practical session.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cluster sample of 312 nursing students from 22 nursing colleges or universities was recruited. Communication ability of these participants was evaluated by 4 questionnaires for demographic data, clinical communication behavior, treatment communication skills and interpersonal communication skills at the beginning of clinical practical session.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The stability and accuracy of the questionnaires were established with an overall content validity index of 0.78, the Cronbach's Alpha index ranged from 0.872 to 0.951, and the letter index fluctuates from 0.85 to 0.89. Results demonstrated that 88.1% of the nursing students require extra training in clinical communication behavior, treatment communication skills, and interpersonal communication skills. The Pearson analysis revealed significantly positive correlations between communication abilities and the students' educational level, clinical training experience, living circumstances and number of siblings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most nursing students need communication skill training. Multiple factors, including educational level, living circumstances, number of siblings, and training experience significantly affect nursing students' communication abilities. Our study suggested a need to widely establish a communication course or clinical communication training program to improve nursing students' communication skills.
authors.affiliation: The School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, China.
authors.forename: Jianfei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Siqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Chunmei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Aizhong
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult