social health; Speed and improvement of students' social skills
social health; Speed and improvement of students' social skills
Iman Mosallanejad,1,*Zeinab Sadat Moosavifard,2
1. Master of education and training 2. Department of Nursing, faculty of nursing, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
Introduction: Having social skills and effective communication is necessary to have a successful performance in life. Social skills are influenced by the culture and social groups that a person is in contact with, and the degree of having these skills plays a significant role in the behavioral and social health of people.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in Jahrom province in the year 1400. The studied sample was randomly selected from a list of schools in the 4 education regions of Jahrom city based on the three variables of gender, educational level and type of school based on the distribution of students. The required sample size was calculated based on simple random sampling of 1400 people. Measurement of social skills was done using the standard tool of Gresham & Elliott by conducting an interview. A questionnaire containing demographic characteristics and other background information related to the purpose of the research was also designed.
Results: In total, 1544 parents of students answered the questions of their children's social skills questionnaire and social skills scores were obtained for 1410 of their children. The average age of the students was 15.7 years (±1.3 = standard deviation) and most of them were studying in high school. The average score of social skills was 52.8 (27.8 ± 27.8) and 65% of students in both sexes were equal and below the 50th percentile of social skills. In the study of analytical relationships, the average score of social skills showed a significant relationship with gender and educational level . Also, students' academic performance (absence from school and grade point average) had a significant relationship with the percentile of social skills.
Conclusion: According to the results, the social skills of the studied students were not at an optimal level. This raises the need to review educational and training methods at the family level as well as educational and training programs in order to promote and develop social skills.