Comparative Study of the Influence of Communication Skill with Psychiatric Patients using Wilkinson- Shimizu Method and Traditional Method on Anxious Thoughts of Nursing Students

Background & Aims : The process of communicating with psychiatric patients by nursing students can indicate the extent of their social interaction in the future . Since communicating with these patients is more difficult than others and is often associated with anxiety , the present study was designed to determine the effect of communication skill with psychiatric patients using Wilkinson- Shimizu method and traditional method on anxious thoughts of nursing students. Material & Methods: It was a quasi- experimental study with before-after design. The sample consisted of 51 undergraduate nursing students in Najafabad branch of Azad University of Isfahan who were recruited during 2011-2012 academic year by purposive sampling and then were randomly assigned into either experimental or control groups during their mental health clinical practice . The experimental group received training about Wilkinson- Shimizu method and the control group received training by traditional method. Data was collected by the Persian version of Anxious Thought Inventory (AnTI) and analyzed by SPSS-PC (v.17) using mean and standard deviation of the groups and paired t-test. Results: The mean score of anxious thoughts significantly decreased in experimental group (p