Newly emerging IADL impairment predicts subsequent cognitive decline across four population-based aging cohorts.

Effective communication and accurate history-taking are fundamental competencies in psychiatric nursing. These skills are essential for establishing therapeutic relationships, conducting comprehensive mental health assessments, promoting patient engagement, and supporting treatment adherence and recovery. Therapeutic communication extends beyond information exchange and includes empathy, active listening, emotional support, and the creation of a psychologically safe environment that encourages patients to share sensitive experiences and concerns (, ). Similarly, comprehensive psychiatric history-taking provides critical information regarding psychosocial stressors, trauma exposure, substance use, medication adherence, suicidal ideation, and family psychiatric history, all of which contribute to accurate diagnosis and individualized treatment planning (). Despite their importance, deficiencies in communication and psychiatric interviewing skills are common among psychiatric nurses. Previous studies have reported a reliance on task-focused and closed-ended questioning styles, limited use of empathetic responses, and difficulties in discussing sensitive issues such as suicide, trauma, self-harm, and sexual health (–). Although communication and interviewing skills are included in nursing curricula, traditional educational approaches often emphasize theoretical instruction, with limited opportunities for experiential learning and clinical application. Consequently, many nurses enter psychiatric practice with insufficient confidence and competence to conduct therapeutic interviews independently (). Simulation-based training has emerged as an evidence-based educational strategy for improving communication, clinical competence, critical thinking, and professional confidence among healthcare workers (). Through standardized patients, realistic clinical scenarios, structured feedback, and guided debriefing, simulation provides a safe environment for practicing therapeutic communication and psychiatric interviewing skills while facilitating the transfer of theoretical knowledge into clinical practice (, ). Previous studies have demonstrated significant improvements in communication skills, empathy, psychiatric assessment, self-confidence, clinical decision-making, and interview performance following simulation-based psychiatric education interventions (–).