P85: Association of Social Anxiety and Personal Characteristics in Tehran Universities\'Nursing Students

Ability to have good interpersonal relationship without social anxiety is the inseparable component of an effective nursing care process. The purpose of this study was to determine relationship between social anxiety and some demographic characteristics in undergraduate nursing students. This descriptive analytic study includes 400 students from Tehran University of Medical Sciences who 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 Scale and demographic information. Using descriptive statistics and analytical test were analyzed by statistical software SPSS v.16. According to our study social anxiety was statistically related to student work experience and college education (P<0.05). There was not a statistically significant relationship between social anxiety and gender, semester, total mean grade, student’s residence place, marital and economic status. Based on significant relationship between social anxiety with college education and student work experience it seems nursing education system with applied mental health promoting strategies needs a priority in educational programs and this facilitates and encourages the students to the student work and therefore to influence and control the levels of social anxiety in this important segment of society.