Abstract
Background. Considering the need to strengthen characteristics such as compassion and personal-social adjustment in nurses and taking into account their role in caring for patients and the need to maintain their mental health, the present study was conducted to compare the effect of emotion regulation and interpersonal skills training on nurses' compassion and personal-social adjustment.
Methods. This study was a double-blinded randomized clinical trial conducted on 57 nurses working in Amiralmomenin and Valiasr hospitals in Tabriz, Iran, in 2024. Participants were randomly assigned to 3 groups with an allocation ratio of 1:1:1 using block randomization after completing the Self-compassion Scale (SCS) and Bell Adjustment Inventory (N=19). After providing emotion regulation training to one of the intervention groups and interpersonal skills training to the other intervention group, the questionnaires were completed. Data were analyzed using MANOVA and MANCOVA in SPSS version 24.
Results. The adjusted mean differences of the self-compassion components including self-kindness (3.000), self-judgment (3.526), common humanity (1.789), isolation (1.789), mindfulness (3.842), and overidentification (3.474) and the adjusted mean differences of the personal-social adjustment components including home adjustment (-2.485), health adjustment (-2.741), emotional adjustment (-1.790), occupational adjustment (-2.202), and social adjustment (-1.205) were statistically significant between the two intervention groups (P<0.005).
Conclusion. Both interventions were effective in improving nurses' compassion and personal-social adjustment. It can be concluded that the effect of emotion regulation training on nurses' compassion and personal-social adjustment was more pronounced than that of interpersonal skills training.
Practical Implications. Considering the greater impact of emotion regulation training compared to interpersonal skills training, emotion regulation training workshops can be provided to improve nurses' self-compassion and personal-social adjustment.