Design and validating the nurse-patient communication skills questionnaire

Introduction: Evaluation of nurse-patient communication skills have been strongly emphasized in order to ensure the possibility of effective communication as well as assessment of the effect of communication skills training programs. Reaching this goal requires the use of standard instruments which is based on the native culture of the target group. Due to the absence of native instruments in this field, the aim of this study was to design and assess the validity and reliability of interpersonal communication skills, among nurses at Shiraz Educational Hospitals. Method: A mixed method (Qualitative, Quantitative) was used in two phases. The first phase was designing a descriptive questionnaire for nurse-patient communication skills (consisting of “brain storming” and “Delphi quantitative Research Method”). The next phase was defining the validity and reliability of the questionnaire based on confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha. The target population for the first phase was 15 faculty members of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and for the second phase, 130 members of nursing staff of both educational and private hospitals of Shiraz. The data were analyzed using SPSS 14 and LISREL software after fulfilling the questionnaires. Results: The findings of the study demonstrated the reliability of the nurse-patient communication skills questionnaires (α=0.810). Except for question No. 17, the others had a significant relationship with the agent based on their validity and T-value. Conclusion: Like other clinical skills, communication requires the theoretical knowledge, evaluation and practice. The findings of this study are the most important indicators from the nurses’ view point which can be assessed in terms of communication skills. These options, as demonstrated, had an acceptable reliability and validity.