The effects of lecture-based and role-playing educational methods on patient communication skills: a comparative study on nursing students

Background: patient communication skills are considered as one of the quality standards of nursing care. educational methods play a major role in increasing nursing students' communication skills. thus, the present study was conducted to evaluate and compare the effects of lecture-based and role-playing educational methods on patient communication skills in nursing students. methods: the present study was a quasi-experimental study. the statistical population of the study consisted of 42 third-year nursing students of jahrom nursing and paramedical school in 2020. they were selected by using a census method and were randomly assigned to role-playing and lecture-based educational groups. communication skills educations were held in three two-hour sessions for three weeks in both groups. data were collected using a communication skills checklist before and one month after the intervention and analyzed using independent t-test, paired t-test and chi-square and in spss-21 software.results: the mean scores of patient communication skills in the role-playing and lecture-based educational groups were not statistically significant before the intervention (p > 0.05). however, after the intervention, the mean scores of patient communication skills in the students of the role-playing education group (67.38 ± 8.71) were higher compared to students of the lecture-based education group (47.00 ± 12.82) and this difference was statistically significant (p <0.05).conclusion: both educational methods have an effect on increasing patient communication skills in nursing students, but role-playing education was more effective than lecture-based education.