A Robotic Mental Health Simulation Intervention to Enhance Professional Identity, Interpersonal Communication Competence, and Emotional Intelligence Among Saudi Nursing Students: A Quasi-Experimental Study

The increasing complexity of healthcare environments requires nursing graduates to possess not only clinical knowledge and technical competence but also strong professional identity, effective interpersonal communication skills, and emotional intelligence. These competencies are particularly important in psychiatric and mental health nursing, where therapeutic relationships, emotional awareness, and effective communication are essential for providing safe, compassionate, and patient-centered care. However, nursing students may encounter limited opportunities to consistently practice these competencies during clinical placements because of variability in patient exposure, supervision, and learning experiences.

Simulation-based education has become an important strategy for bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and clinical practice by providing realistic, safe, and structured learning experiences. Recent advances in educational technology have introduced robotic simulation as an innovative teaching approach capable of creating standardized and repeatable clinical scenarios. Mental illness simulation robots can portray patients experiencing psychiatric symptoms and emotional distress, allowing students to practice therapeutic communication, psychiatric assessment, emotional support, crisis intervention, and other mental health nursing skills in a controlled environment.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a mental illness simulation robot on nursing students' professional identity, interpersonal communication competence, and emotional intelligence. The study employs a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test, and three-month follow-up design involving undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a psychiatric-mental health nursing course. Participants are allocated to either an intervention group receiving robotic mental health simulation integrated into laboratory and clinical learning activities or a control group receiving traditional teaching methods without robotic simulation.

The robotic simulation intervention includes structured psychiatric nursing scenarios involving common mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, emotional distress, and aggressive behavior. Each simulation session consists of pre-briefing, active interaction with the robotic patient, and faculty-guided debriefing focused on reflection, communication performance, emotional responses, and clinical reasoning. The intervention is designed to provide experiential learning opportunities that support professional role development, communication skill acquisition, and emotional competency enhancement.

Study outcomes include professional identity, interpersonal communication competence, and emotional intelligence measured using validated self-report instruments administered at baseline, immediately following the intervention, and three months after completion of the intervention. The findings are expected to contribute evidence regarding the educational value of robotic mental health simulation and its potential role in strengthening psychological, interpersonal, and professional competencies among future nurses.

Inclusion criteria

• Undergraduate nursing students enrolled in the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing course (NURS 224) during the study period Students registered in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the College of Nursing, University of Hafr Al Batin Willingness to participate in the study and provide informed consent Attendance in both theoretical and practical components of the course during the intervention period Availability to participate in simulation sessions and complete all study assessments at baseline, post-test, and follow-up

Exclusion criteria

• Students who refuse or withdraw consent at any stage of the study Students who fail to complete all required data collection points (pre-test, post-test, and follow-up) Students absent from the robotic simulation sessions or traditional teaching sessions during the intervention period Students with prior formal training or extensive experience in psychiatric simulation-based education (if applicable to avoid bias)