How nursing students perceive communication with patients in mental health

Objective: To identify how Nursing students perceive patient communication in mental health and describe how this perception influences their own communication for care. Method: Qualitative, with individual artistic production after relaxation using instrumental music and drawing in a planned cube. The analysis of the words and phrases pronounced in the group evidenced the thematic unit about the perceived communication through the bodily senses, shared by 23 seventh-semester students from the Nursing program. Results: The production demonstrates that the communication perceived and expressed indicates intervention, approximation, expanded listening and attention. The bodily senses perceive behavior, language, disorders, defense mechanisms, approximation and needs for improvements in care. Conclusion: The student's bodily senses register and express the verbal and non-verbal communication of patients with mental disorders through feelings, behavior and body hygiene conditions, which give rise to care needs.