Comparison of the Effect of Teaching through Lecture and Group Discussion on Nursing Students' Communication Skills with Patients

Introduction: Teaching through group discussion is one of the student-oriented (centered) instructional methods. This study was performed to compare the effect of teaching through lecture and group discussion on nursing students' communication skills with patients in year 2008. Methods: This was a quasi experimental study performed on a population of 57 students of first (n=29) and third semester (n=28) of school of nursing and midwifery in year 2008. Students of each semester were divided into two groups of experiment and control. Two modules of medical surgical courses were taught to the students through lecture (for control group) and group discussion (experiment group). Students' skills of communication with patients in both groups were assessed once before instruction and once again after that. Data derived from two groups was compared and students' skills of communication were inscribed using a questionnaire containing 35 phrases in Likert's original 5-point scale. Results: Mean scores of skill of communication with patients before and after instruction were as 85.1 and 85.56 respectively in lecture group which demonstrate no significant difference Mean scores of skill of communication with patients before and after instruction were as 84.7 and 91.33 respectively in group discussion cluster which revealed a significant improvement (p<0.05). The score of students' communication skills in two groups were similar before the instruction but students' communication skills were significantly higher in experiment group after the instruction. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that employing group discussion method helps to the development of nursing students' communication skills (areas of interactional skills and pursuing problems). Employing active educational methods and increasing students' involvement in discussions and contestations provides them with an opportunity to develop their communicational skills.