Empathy and Type D personality as the correlates of level of social skills of primary healthcare nurses

Abstract

Abstract Introduction. Social skills are a very important element in the work of a nurse. These skills support patient-centered care and improve the quality of care, and for nurses, they are a protective factor against burnout syndrome, also they improve team work. Therefore, it is so important to search for their determinants. The objective of the article was to evaluate the relation between empathy and type D personality with the level of social competences of primary healthcare nurses. Material and methods. The research was conducted among primary healthcare nurses from the Lubelskie Voivodeship, using the following tools: The Social Competences Profile (PROKOS); Type D Personality Scale (DS-14), Empathic Understanding of Other People Questionnaire (KRE) and the sociodemographic data questionnaire. Results. We analyzed the responses of 446 nurses. In the study group 65% of the nurses had an average level of social competences. The research also evaluated the level of empathy demonstrated by primary healthcare nurses. The mean score for the level of empathy was M=64.63 points (SD=10.16). When it comes to 39% of the researched group of nurses (n=172), they demonstrated type D personality. The correlation analysis proved that the level of empathy among primary healthcare nurses significantly (p<0.001) supported their social competences. Furthermore the negative affectivity and social inhibition correlated significantly negatively (p<0.001) with social skills of nurses. Conclusions. Our research enabled us to discover the relations between empathy and type D personality with the level of social competences of primary healthcare nurses. Research further indicated insufficient level of social skills of nurses and the need to investigate factors, which could support their shaping. Further, in-depth research is required in this field, including quantitative analysis.