Relationship between Social Network Characteristics, Flow in Class, Communication Skills, and Problem-solving Skills of Nursing Students in Simulation Nursing Education: Focusing on Social Network Analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between social network characteristics, flow in class, communication skills, and problem-solving skills of nursing students in simulation.Methods: For this study a descriptive survey design was used. Participants were 100 nursing students who attended in 2 university and completed the self-report questionnaire. Data were collected from October 14 to December 6, 2019 and were analyzed with SPSS 26.0, AMOS 21.0 and Netminer 4 evaluation version.Results: It was confirmed that the task advice network centrality of nursing students fully mediates their communication skills and affects their problemsolving skills and that friendship network centrality completely mediates flow in class and communication skills, and affects problem-solving skills. Task advice network centrality, friendship network centrality, flow in class, and communication skills were found to explain problem solving skills by 51.8%.Conclusion: In order to increase the problem-solving skills of nursing students in simulation nursing education, a strategy to improve their flow in class and communication skills is essential and it suggests the need to make it part of the curriculum. In addition, in order to increase the communication skills of nursing students, it is necessary to be careful when making a team to minimize the team members isolated within the team so that smooth interaction can occur.