Therapeutic Communication Skills and Confidence among Graduating Student Nurses in Iloilo, Philippines

Abstract

Aims: To determine the relationship between therapeutic communication skills and clinical confidence of graduating student nurses in a selected private institution in Iloilo, Philippines. Study Design: Descriptive-Correlational design. Place and Duration of Study: College of Nursing of a private institution in Iloilo, Philippines, between September 2025 and February 2026. Methodology: The total population of graduating student nurses is 517, and with the Raosoft calculator, 221 graduating student nurses from the College of Nursing were determined as the sample size. Using an online platform, the data gathering used two adopted questionnaires, Therapeutic Nursing Scale in Nursing Students and the Level of Clinical Confidence in the Psychiatric Ward. Ethical clearance was obtained prior to data collection. Results: Findings revealed that graduating student nurses possessed an average to high levels of therapeutic communication skills during their psychiatric ward exposure. It suggested that graduating student nurses were more proficient in basic therapeutic communication skills or practices than advanced therapeutic interventions. In terms of clinical confidence, the findings revealed a majority of the graduating student nurses displayed a high level of confidence in clinical settings. Higher confidence was evident in areas related to interpersonal engagement, in contrast, to a lower confidence level in more complex clinical practices. The correlation analysis supported the existence of a statistically significant relationship between the two variables in accordance to the predetermined level of significance, suggesting that different levels of clinical confidence of the respondents are correlated with their varying levels of therapeutic communication skills. Conclusion: The differences in confidence across various competencies emphasize the complexity of psychiatric nursing and suggest that confidence is built unevenly depending on the difficulty and familiarity of the skill. The overall professional development in psychiatric nursing is shaped by the interplay between clinical confidence and communication skills, influencing student nurses to properly respond to challenges and navigate clinical interactions.