The effects of psychodrama on the emotional awareness and communication skills of psychiatric nurses: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Psychiatric nurses should have good communication skills and emotional awareness to provide quality nursing care. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of psychodrama on emotional awareness and communication skills in psychiatric nurses in Istanbul, Turkey. A randomized controlled trial study (pretest-posttest control group design) was conducted with 26 psychiatric nurses in Istanbul. The psychiatric nurses were evaluated in terms of emotional awareness assessed by the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale and communication skills assessed by the Communication Skills Inventory. Two hours of psychodrama sessions (16 in total) were held once a week under the guidance of a psychodrama therapist and a co-therapist. The control group did not receive any intervention. The experimental group had significantly higher posttest total emotional awareness score and emotional communication skills score than pretest scores. There was no significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the control group. Psychodrama can be used to improve the communication skills and emotional awareness of psychiatric nurses.