P48: Social Anxiety and Fear of Social Performance in Nursing Students

High levels of mental health during studying in university, makes students able to deal effectively with numerous stressors they experience. Our aim of this study was to examine and compare social anxiety among first to fourth year student nurses of Ministry of Health affiliated universities of medical sciences located in Tehran, Iran in 2010. In this descriptive analytic study, 400 students from Tehran University of medical sciences were recruited by stratified sampling with proportional allocation. Data were collected during the first semester in 2010. Students completed two-part questionnaire include of Liebowitz social anxiety inventory and demographic information. Data collected with using descriptive statistics and analytical test were analyzed by statistical software SPSS. There was no statistically significant difference in total scores of social anxiety of first to fourth year students. The mean score of avoidance of social interaction dimension in fourth year students were significantly lower than first year students (P<0.05). Regard to deniable relationship social anxiety and interpersonal communication as in dissociable part of nursing care, decrease of social anxiety of students could play an important role in their mental health. According to results of this study seems that placement of students in nursing education system does not produce any changes in their social anxiety. It is recommended to consider the mental health promoting strategies as a priority in programs of nursing education.