Examination of Relationship between Nurses’ and Midwives’ Social Network Use and Their Communication Skills in a Public Hospital

Introduction: Nowadays, computers and internet use became necessary tools of daily life with progressively improving technology. One of the latest innovations in the internet area is social networks. On the other hand, a new period started in health communication with the introduction of social network use in the health area. Aim: This study aims to assess the relationship between communication skills of nurses, midwives and health officers and the status of using computer and social networks. Methods: It is a descriptive research. The research population of the study was composed of all nurses, midwives and health officers working in a training and investigation hospital between February and December 2018. The sample included 176 people who were willing to participate in the study and 126 of them were nurses, 47 were midwives, and three of them were health officers. Data were collected via 24-item survey developed by the researchers prepared using available literature, Communication Skills Scale-Adult Form and Social Networks Use Objectives Scale. Data have been analyzed by using a computer. Results: The mean age of the research participants was 32.6 ± 8.9. Most of the sample (71.6%) as nurses, 26.6% of them were midwives and 1.7% was health officers. Participants obtained minimum 75 maximum and 167 for Communication Skills Scale-Adult Form, and minimum 26 and maximum 176 from Social Networks Use Objectives Scale. Most of the participants obtained high scores from both scales. Social Network Use Objectives Scale average scores were 101.66 ± 39.98 for midwives, 114.39 ± 26.40 for nurses, and 121.00 ±26.87 for health officers. Conclusion: It is thought that the utilization of the favorable features of social networks in the health area will improve the nursing and midwifery occupations