Multicenter cross-sectional study evaluates alexithymia prevalence in nursing students, suggesting training strategies to enhance emotional competence.
Background: Emotional awareness is a core component of professional competence in healthcare, influencing therapeutic communication, stress regulation, and relational effectiveness. Alexithymia, defined as difficulty identifying and describing emotions, may interfere with the development of these skills during nursing education. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of alexithymic traits in Italian nursing students and to examine differences according to gender and academic year. Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional design was adopted. A total of 232 undergraduate nursing students from several Italian universities completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) via an anonymous online survey. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and one-way ANOVA were performed. Results: The mean TAS-20 total score was 60.36 (SD = 11.22), approaching the clinical cutoff. Approximately 26% of students met the criteria for alexithymia. No statistically significant differences emerged across gender or academic year. A near-significant trend was observed for the Difficulty Identifying Feelings subscale (p = 0.053). Conclusions: A substantial proportion of nursing students reported elevated alexithymic traits. These findings highlight the need to strengthen emotional competence within nursing curricula to support professional development and resilience.
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Viciconte et al. (2026) studied this question.
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