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Background & Aim: It is crucial to assess communication skills among health workers using valid culture-based instruments. This study aimed to develop and assess psychometric properties of the Interpersonal Communication Skills Scale among Zanjan Health Volunteers.

Methods & Materials: In this study, a total of 191 health volunteers participated in a self-rating assessment of the Communication Skills Scale (CSS). Moreover, 14 experts were asked to rate each item based on the relevance, clarity, and simplicity. Through a literature review, we developed an instrument with 43 items. The validity of the instrument was determined using the impact item method, content validity ratio (CVR), content validity index (CVI), face validity and exploratory factor analysis. Reliability of the instrument was reported by Alpha Cronbach coefficient. The CSS finally contained 35 items, divided into two categories: general and specific communication skills.

Results: Of 43 items, those with impact item index over 1.5, CVR over 0.51, and CVI over 0.79 were considered as valid while the rest were discarded resulting in a 35-item scale. Factor analysis was carried out to determine the relationship among the items of the CSS. Exploratory factor analysis reduced the list of items to 30, which were divided into seven groups with a minimum eigenvalue of 1 for each factor, capable of predicting 68.8% of the variance. Internal reliability of the scale was determined by alpha Cronbach coefficient (0.91).

Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the CSS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessment of the communication skills among health volunteers in Zanjan. These findings could be used for developing similar instruments in other health worker groups.

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Background & Aim: Considering the importance of communication skills in nursing, we aimed to study the impact of online support and e-content on communication skills of nurses with patients.
Methods & Materials: In this quasi-experimental study with pre- and post-design, 100 nurses employed in the orthopedic wards of Chamran hospital affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2018 were selected randomly and assigned into two groups of 50. Both groups received the electronic content of communication skills. In the intervention group, in addition to receiving educational content, online support was provided through social media for four weeks with the presence of a psychologist, so that by asking real questions and problems or simulated scenarios, appropriate behavior in that situation was discussed. Before and eight weeks after the intervention, communication skills in the both groups were assessed by the Burton Jay's Communication Skills questionnaire, and data was compared using independent t-test and analysis of covariance.
Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in the communication skills score before the intervention, but eight weeks after receiving the e-content, the participants' scores increased in the both groups. This increase was greater in the online support group (P<0.001). In fact, online support caused a difference (0.637) in the communication skills score between the two groups.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed the provision of e-content along with online support has led to the improvement of communication skills. It is recommended that in addition to education through e-content, social media be used in the empowerment programs of the treatment team including communication skills improvement, due to their advantages such as ease of use, availability and relatively low cost.
Clinical trial registry: IRCT20090127001599N27