THE IMPACT OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN TEACHING COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR PSYCHIATRIC NURSING STUDENTS

Abstract

Effective communication has long been recognized as a corner stone and vital component of high-quality nursing care process starting from assessment till evaluation of care. It is necessary for nurses to be effective communicators, so that they can deliver safe and effective nursing practice. To be effective within a dynamic complex psychiatric care system and to help patients achieve positive outcomes, psychiatric nurses need to be proficient in communication skills as they are in clinical skills. Poor communication can lead to angry feelings, omission or distortion of important information, and subsequently deleterious effects on patients' outcomes. Professional nursing education aims to produce quality nursing graduates who can respond to demands of the changing healthcare environment. Cooperative learning (CL) is one of the learning methods that have social well as academic benefits. It lowers the students' anxiety; promote students responsibility for their own learning, and improves interpersonal skills and higher level thinking ability. Researches found that cooperative learning results in higher achievement, more positive relationships among students, and greater psychological adjustment. Application of cooperative learning will prepare psychiatric nursing students to able to work cooperatively with patients as well as with other psychiatric team members. This paper provides a brief overview of the literature on the impact of cooperative learning in teaching communication skills for psychiatric nursing students. It could be said that CL is helpful in developing student nurses ability to practice communication skills effectively and successfully with psychotic patients.