Assessment Of Communication Skills Research Articles

Pre-clerkship procedural training in venipuncture: a prospective cohort study on skills acquisition and durability

BackgroundThe effectiveness of simulation-based training for skill acquisition is widely recognized. However, the impact of simulation-based procedural training (SBPT) on pre-clerkship medical students and the retention of procedural skills learned through this modality are rarely investigated.MethodsA prospective cohort study was conducted among pre-clerkship medical students. Learners underwent SBPT in venipuncture in the skills laboratory. Assessments were conducted at two main points: 1) immediate assessment following the training and 2) delayed assessment one year after training. Learner self-assessments, independent assessor assessments for procedural competency, and communication skills assessments were conducted in both instances. The students were assessed for their competency in performing venipuncture by an independent assessor immediately following the training in the simulated setting and one-year post-training in the clinical setting, using the Integrated Procedural Protocol Instrument (IPPI). The student’s communication skills were assessed by standardized patients (SP) and actual patients in the simulated and clinical settings, respectively, using the Communication Assessment Tool (CAT).ResultsFifty-five pre-clerkship medical students were recruited for the study. A significant increase was observed in self-confidence [mean: 2.89 SD (Standard Deviation) (0.69)] and self-perceived competency [mean: 2.42 SD (0.57)] in performing venipuncture, which further improved at the delayed assessment conducted in the clinical setting (p < 0.001). Similarly, the IPPI ratings showed an improvement [immediate assessment: mean: 2.25 SD (1.62); delayed assessment: mean: 2.78 SD (0.53); p < 0.01] in venipuncture skills when assessed by an independent assessor blinded to the study design. A significant difference (p < 0.01) was also observed in doctor-patient communication when evaluated by SPs [mean: 2.49 SD (0.57)] and patients [mean: 3.76 SD (0.74)].ConclusionSimulation-based venipuncture training enabled students to perform the procedure with confidence and technical accuracy. Improved rating scores received at a one-year interval denote the impact of clinical training on skills acquisition. The durability of skills learned via SBPT needs to be further investigated.

Validated checklist for assessing communication skills in undergraduate medical students: bridging the gap for effective doctor-patient interactions.

Communication skills are fundamental in healthcare, but assessing them among medical students presents challenges. In the Indian context, the lack of a specific assessment tool further compounds the issue. Thus this study aimed to develop and validate an observation-based communication skills checklist tailored to Phase I Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students. The checklist was developed using both inductive and deductive approaches and underwent rigorous testing to ensure its reliability and validity. After piloting, the finalized version was administered to 84 Phase I MBBS students. Results indicated a critical content validity ratio of 0.78, face validity of 0.80, and an impressive Cronbach's alpha of 0.91, indicating good internal consistency and reliability of the checklist. The students scored over 80% in all checklist domains, except for empathy (73%) and support (74%), highlighting areas for potential improvement. Nonetheless, about 75% of students expressed satisfaction with the checklist's communication skills assessment. The feedback from faculty members was positive, as they found the checklist was easy to use, quick, and effective for evaluating communication skills. Consequently, the checklist's introduction has been well received by both students and faculty. In conclusion, the developed checklist proves to be an effective and valid instrument for assessing communication skills in Phase I MBBS students. By integrating this tool into observed station clinical examinations, medical educators can comprehensively evaluate students' communication behaviors. Moreover, the checklist serves as a valuable resource for bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, enabling future physicians to excel in doctor-patient interactions, a crucial aspect of patient-centered care.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This article presents a highly unique and novel approach by introducing a structured checklist for communication skill assessment in medical students. Its rigorous validation process ensures reliability and effectiveness, while its adaptation to sociocultural norms highlights its relevance and applicability. The user-friendly design with a single-page layout and dichotomous scale further enhances its practicality in objective structured clinical examinations. The developed checklist equips educators with a valuable resource to assess and improve students' communication abilities.

Highly Realistic Performance of a Standardized Patient in the Accreditation Procedure for Healthcare Professionals

Ensuring highly realistic simulation in training and assessing the clinical skills of healthcare professionals is one of the important tasks in the development of simulation technologies. Using the method of analyzing OSCE video fragments in the accreditation procedure, it was possible to consider the work of simulated / standardized patients when assessing communication skills in the accreditation procedure for healthcare professionals in the Russian Federation, as a condition for ensuring highly realistic simulation.

Multilateral Assessment of the Communication Skills of Students in a Medical University: Conditions for Implementation

The study is aimed at identifying the conditions for a multilateral assessment of the communication skills of students in a medical university.The method involves peer review, self-assessment and assessment of communication skills by a standardized patient.It has been established that its implementation is possible subject to a set of conditions: availability of standardized assessment tools, organization of feedback from experts and the patient, training of all participants in the multilateral assessment methodology.

Development of Communication and Creativity Competency Assessment Instruments in The Chempreneurship Course

This study aims to develop and produce an instrument for assessing students' communication skills and creativity in the Chempreneurship course. This research is a development research that uses the 4D model. This assessment instrument contains a theoretical description, a lattice of communication and creativity skills assessment instruments and communication and creativity skills assessment sheets that have been validated by experts and tested. The results of this study are a communication skills and creativity research instrument that is feasible to use, valid, and reliable. The instrument is declared fit for use if the results of the expert appraisal test with CVI obtain a score of ≥ 0.8. The results of the expert appraisal test for communication instruments with CVI obtained a score of 0.88 and a creativity instrument of 0.90. The results of the development testing of the communication skills instrument obtained 16 items, which were declared valid and reliable with a reliability value of 0.891. The results of the development testing of the creativity instrument show that all items are declared valid and reliable with a reliability value of 0.854. The result of the development instrument is feasible to measure communication skills and creativity.

Joint Engagement in Mother-Child Dyads of Autistic and Non-Autistic Children Among Asian Indian Tamil Speaking Families.

This study profiled various levels of engagement and related communication behaviours among 50 Asian Indian Tamil autistic children(AUT) and their mothers. The interaction was compared with two groups of mother-child dyads of non-autistic (NA) children, 50 in each group, matched for chronological age (CA), and for language level (LL). Results indicated that despite mother's efforts to engage with their children, autistic children were often 'engaged with objects' or remained 'unengaged' due to children's preference for solitary play, while NA children were often engaged in 'co-ordinated' and 'people engagement'. Across the three groups, mothers predominantly took the lead and dominated the interaction, irrespective of children's language levels. These initiations by the mothers were often to provide instructions and to ask 'What' questions. Autistic children initiated communication predominantly to ask for an object and responded often in the form of negations and protests with limited verbal output or non-verbally. Most of the communication behaviours of both children and mothers in AUT group was quantitatively and qualitatively different when compared to those in both the NA groups, indicating unique nature of interactions despite matching for CA or LL. The observations from the study highlights the need for considering adult's contingent behaviours also, while assessing communication skills of autistic children in order to provide effective intervention.

Assessing Oral Communication Skills of Students in Business Administration Department

This research article presents an assessment of the oral communication skills of students in the Business Administration Department. A questionnaire was used to measure 95 students' self-perceived ability in oral communication for various activities. The study aimed to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses in students' oral communication skills and highlight potential areas for improvement. The findings revealed that students rated themselves low in the category of "Providing training through discussions, workshops," suggesting a need for focused attention in this particular skill area. These results have implications for curriculum development and instructional strategies, emphasizing the importance of incorporating targeted training methods to enhance students' oral communication skills in the Business Administration program

Adaptation and validation of the European Portuguese Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales Developmental Profile™ (CSBS DP™) Infant-Toddler Checklist.

As delays or disorders in early language and communication are the most prevalent symptom in children with disabilities, early screening is crucial to promote prevention, early diagnosis, and intervention. However, to the best of our knowledge, no screening tool is available for the joint assessment of early language and social communication skills in European Portuguese (EP)-learning children, which is critical for screening, monitoring and enrolment in appropriate early intervention services. (1) To adapt and validate the EP version of the Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales Developmental Profile™ (CSBS DP™) Infant-Toddler Checklist, a parental report for the screening of early language and social communication skills. (2) To conduct a cross-cultural comparison between the EP adaptation and the original US version. A total of 611 EP-learning children (ages 6-24 months) were assessed on the CSBS DP Infant-Toddler Checklist. Normative data, psychometric characteristics (i.e., internal consistency and test-retest reliability), and cross-cultural comparison between the EP and the original version were explored. Internal consistency ranged from good to excellent and the test-retest reliability was excellent. The performance of the EP and US samples matched on almost all scores. However, EP children performed significantly better than their American peers in the Social compositive at 22 months and in the Symbolic composite at 20 months. No further differences were found. These findings showed that the EP CSBS DP Infant-Toddler Checklist seems to be a reliable screening tool of communicative and symbolic behaviours for EP-learning children, which can be particularly relevant for decision-making in clinical practice. What is already known on the subject Early communication skills are known to be related to later language outcomes. Thus, screening tools for the early identification of children at risk for language and communication impairments, which may lead to monitoring and early intervention, have the potential to promote better outcomes. However, to the best of our knowledge, no screening tool is available for the assessment of early communication abilities in EP-learning children. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study adapted and validated the EP CSBS DP Infant-Toddler Checklist, the first published parental report checklist for the assessment of early communication skills in EP. It described the psychometric characteristics of the adapted checklist, summarized the newly available normative data for EP-learning infants and toddlers, and compared the performance of EP-learning children with the original standardization sample reported for American English. The results demonstrated that this tool is a reliable instrument for the early screening of language, communicative and symbolic behaviours for EP-learning children between 6 and 24 months of age. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Given that early screening is crucial to promote prevention, early diagnosis and intervention, the availability of this tool is particularly relevant for children monitoring and their enrolment in appropriate early intervention services, helping decision-making in clinical practice, in line with current guidelines regarding early monitoring and intervention to promote and support better outcomes. Thus, the tool and related normative data will be useful for paediatricians, family doctors, primary healthcare providers, developmental psychologists and speech-language therapists, among other professionals in the healthcare and educational fields, concerned with speech, language, and communication development and impairments.

Assessment of Communication Skills of First-Year Medical Students, Faculty of Medicine, Suez University

Assessment of Communication Skills of First-Year Medical Students, Faculty of Medicine, Suez University

How congruent are parent reports on 3-4-year-old children's language skills with other sources of data?

Parental report measures such as the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs) are frequently used to study communicative skills of children under 3 years of age. Less is known about the usability of such reports for assessing communication skills in older children due to their advanced language skills, and a higher variety of communicative partners and communication contexts. To assess the concurrent and predictive validity of the Estonian (E) CDI-III at ages 3;0 and 4;0 years. The first research goal was to examine its concurrent variability-associations with teacher reports and directly measured language skills. The second goal of the study was to investigate the predictive validity of parent reports-the degree to which parent-and teacher-reported language scores for children at age 3;0 are useful for predicting examiner-administered language comprehension and production scores 1 year later. Estonian monolingual children were investigated longitudinally at ages 3;0 (n = 104; M age = 35.77 months, SD = 0.84; 42% males) and 4;0 (n = 87; M age = 48.18 months, SD = 1.16; 42% males) years. Children were assessed with the parent-reported ECDI-III, with teacher-reported assessments on children's talkativeness, vocabulary size and grammatical skills, and the examiner-administered New Reynell Developmental Language Scales IV (NRDLS). Results indicated significant positive relationships between the ECDI-III total scores, teacher reports, and directly measured language comprehension and production scores, demonstrating concurrent validity of parental reports of children language skills at both ages. When controlling for mothers' education, children's gender, and reported language difficulties, parental and teacher reports were predictive of language production scores, whereas only parental reports predicted comprehension scores 1 year later. None of the controls was predictive of later language comprehension and production scores. In sum, good concurrent and predictive validity of the ECDI-III shows that the instrument is a valid tool for assessing communicative skills in Estonian children. Results suggest that parent reports can offer useable information also about communicative skills of children older than three years.

Enhancing History-Taking Skills in Medical Students: A Practical Guide.

History-taking skills are an essential part of the medical school curriculum. However, from the author's experience and available literature, students consistently report a lack of confidence in their history-taking abilities, and as a result, feel underprepared for upcoming summative communication skills assessments. Therefore, as medical students at the University of Cambridge, we used evidence-based education to create a history-taking teaching programme that aimed to increase confidence and preparedness for communication skills exams. This article outlines 12 tips to be used when teaching history-taking skills to medical students. These tips were created using student feedback, personal experience, and wider literature on the topic. Creating and teaching an effective history-taking course can take significant effort and time. However, we hope this guide provides a starting framework that can be quickly applied to allow users to create effective history-taking skills courses for their students.

The pediatric provider communication skills assessment scale.

Building rapport and trust between healthcare professional and patient/parents would improve satisfaction of patient/parents. The purpose of this study was to develop "The Pediatric Provider Communication Skills Assessment Scale" in this study. A trial form, with linguistic and psychometric validation and consisting of 44 statements, was administered to a sample of 325 individuals. Data were collected between January 20 and October 22, 2021. The validity of the scale was concluded after examining its construct validity and internal validity. "Exploratory factor analysis" was used for determining construct validity, and "comparison of lower-upper groups" for internal validity. "Cronbach's α reliability coefficient" and "split half test consistency coefficient" were calculated for testing the reliability of the scale. The Pediatric Provider Communication Skills Assessment Scale that we developed consists of one dimension and 20 items, and the variance it can explain was calculated as 62.3%. The Cronbach α reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated as 0.90, indicating high reliability. According to the findings, "The Pediatric Provider Communication Skills Assessment Scale" is a scale with features that can measure in a valid and reliable way, with high variance and a low number of items. The study aims to develop the "The Pediatric Provider Communication Skills Assessment Scale," and present it to the literature as a validated and reliable new objective measurement tool. This study will enable us to understand more about the complex communication processes involved in pediatric care and how these may influence care delivery.

Perceptions of medical students and their facilitators on clinical communication skills teaching, learning, and assessment.

Despite various efforts to develop communication skills (CS) in the classroom, the transfer of these skills into clinical practice is not guaranteed. This study aimed to identify barriers and facilitators of transferring CS from the classroom to clinical environments. A qualitative study was conducted at one Australian medical school to explore the experiences and perceptions of facilitators and students in relation to teaching and learning clinical CS. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data. Twelve facilitators and sixteen medical students participated in semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions, respectively. Primary themes included the value of teaching and learning, alignment between approaches to teaching and actual clinical practices and students' perceptions of practice, and challenges in different learning environments. This study reinforces the value of teaching and learning CS by facilitators and students. Classroom learning provides students with a structure to use in communicating with real patients, which can be modified to suit various situations. Students have limited opportunities, however, to be observed and receive feedback on their real-patient encounters. Classroom session that discussed CS experiences during clinical rotation is recommended to strengthen learning both the content and process of CS as well as transitioning to the clinical environment.

Developing Angelman syndrome-specific clinician-reported and caregiver-reported measures to support holistic, patient-centered drug development

BackgroundAngelman syndrome (AS) is a rare, heterogenous neurogenetic condition, which significantly impacts the lives of people with AS and their families. Valid and reliable measures reporting key symptoms and functional impairments of AS are required to support development of patient-centered therapies. We describe the development of clinician- and caregiver-reported, AS-specific Global Impression scales for incorporation into clinical trials. Best practice US Food and Drug Administration guidance for measure development was followed with input from expert clinicians, patient advocates, and caregivers during content generation and refinement.ResultsInitial measurement domains for the Symptoms of AS—Clinician Global Impression (SAS-CGI) and the Caregiver-reported AS Scale (CASS) were identified from a conceptual disease model of AS symptoms and impacts, derived from interviews with caregivers and clinicians. Two rounds of cognitive debriefing (CD) interviews were performed; clinicians debriefed the SAS-CGI, with patient advocates and caregivers debriefing the CASS to ensure relevance and comprehension. Feedback was used to refine items and ensure wording was age-appropriate and captured AS-specific symptoms, as well as associated impacts and functional impairments. The SAS-CGI and CASS capture global assessments of seizures, sleep, maladaptive behaviors, expressive communication, fine and gross motor skills, cognition, and self-care, which were determined by clinicians, patient advocates, and caregivers to be the most challenging aspects of AS. Additionally, the measures include items for assessing overall AS symptoms and the meaningfulness of any change. In addition to ratings for severity, impact, and change, a notes field was included in the SAS-CGI to provide the rationale for the chosen rating. CD interviews confirmed the measures covered key concepts of AS from the perspective of clinicians and caregivers, and demonstrated that the measures’ instructions, items, and response options were clear and appropriate. Interview feedback informed adjustments to the wording of the instructions and the items.ConclusionsThe SAS-CGI and CASS were designed to capture multiple AS symptoms, reflecting the heterogeneity and complexity of AS in children 1 to 12 years old. These clinical outcome assessments have been incorporated into AS clinical studies, which will allow for the evaluation of their psychometric properties and inform further refinements if needed.

Bridging the Gap in Competency Assessment During Transition from Undergraduate Medical Education to Graduate Medical Education: A Perspective Piece

•Learner handoff (transition) from undergraduate medical education to graduate medical education has historically been challenging. •The AAIM Competencies task force was charged to identify a set of competencies that apply throughout the internal medicine education continuum, to address the need for a shared model of assessment. •Our task force created a framework for assessment of Interpersonal Communication Skills 2 and Professionalism 1and 3 utilizing existing validated assessment models. Undergraduate Medical education, Graduate Medical education, transition, competencies assessment, professionalism.

Perspectives of psychiatric trainees and examiners on the assessment of communication skills during an online clinical examination: a qualitative study.

Effective doctor-patient communication is a core competency for healthcare professionals. With the pivot to online clinical education and assessment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a need to explore the views of psychiatric trainees and examiners on assessment of communication skills during online high stakes postgraduate examinations. The study was designed as descriptive qualitative research. All candidates and examiners of the September and November 2020 sitting of online Basic Specialist Training exam (a clinical Objective Structured Clinical Examination exam completed in the first 4 years of psychiatry training) were invited to participate. The respondents were interviewed by Zoom which was transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed by NVivo20 pro and various themes and subthemes were drawn using Braun and Clarke thematic analysis. A total of seven candidates and seven examiners were interviewed with an average duration of 30 minutes and 25 minutes, respectively. Four main themes emerged: Communication, Screen optimization, Continuation postpandemic and Overall experience. All candidates preferred to continue an online format post pandemic for practical reasons e.g., avoiding travel and overnight stay, while all examiners preferred to go back to in-person Objective Structured Clinical Examination. However, continuation of online Clinical Formulation and Management Examination was agreed by both groups. The participants were largely satisfied with the online examination but did not consider it equal to face-to-face for picking up nonverbal cues. Overall minimal technical issues were reported. These findings may be helpful to modify current psychiatry membership examinations or similar assessments in other countries and specialties.

An Assessment of Communication Skills of Primary School Teachers in a Catholic Educational Institution

An Assessment of Communication Skills of Primary School Teachers in a Catholic Educational Institution

Validation of the Bangla Communication Scale among Bangladeshi adolescents: A Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory approach.

Assessing communication skills is necessary to facilitate pro-communication skills development programs. The 23-item Communication Scale (CS) is the most widely used tool for this purpose. Since there is a scarcity of validated tools to assess communication skills among Bangladeshi adolescents, we translated this questionnaire into Bangla and validated it on a Bangladeshi adolescent sample. We conducted two independent rounds of large-scale surveys that yielded data from 621 Bangladeshi adolescents (AgeMean±SD =16.44±1.32), of which 378 were males, and 244 were females. The participants completed the Bangla CS. A subset of the participants (n=160) also completed the Bangla Beck's Hopelessness Scale (BBHS)-a measure of hopelessness. Exploratory factor analysis on the first-round data (n=340) discarded six items and retained 17 items and revealed a unidimensional factor structure. Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the second-round data (n=281) supported the unidimensional structure (CFI=0.94, TLI=0.93). Measurement invariance analysis indicated that the unidimensional structure was robust across gender (143 males vs 139 females). The scale exhibited a negative correlation with BBHS revealing the scale's concurrent validity (r =-0.16, p <0.01). The scale exhibited satisfactory reliability (ωt = 0.79). The Item Response Theory-based analysis revealed that the scale was reliable (> 0.70) across a sizable range of communication skills continuum (θ = - 5.3 to 2.3) and had excellent marginal reliability (0.80). All items had adequate discriminating power (0.90 ± 0.20). The psychometric analysis of the 17-item Bangla-CS indicated that the scale is reliable and valid. We recommend that researchers and mental health practitioners utilize this scale to evaluate communication skills among Bangladeshi adolescents.

Identification Ways of Working of Students' High School Pekanbaru in Chemistry Learning

The background of this research is the absence of an assessment of communication and collaboration skills of students in overall chemistry learning when learning shifts from home to face-to-face limited during the pandemic. This study aims to show the value of the working skills of high school students in learning chemistry in Pekanbaru. The research subjects involved were 379 students from high school in Pekanbaru. This research is survey research that uses a quantitative descriptive approach. Data collection methods used are questionnaires and interviews. The instruments used are self-assessment, peer assessment, and interview guidelines. The data analysis technique used quantitative analysis. The results showed that the average value of working skills (communication and collaboration) in chemistry learning in Pekanbaru had the same value. This value is 62% which is classified as a strong category. The implications of this research are expected to be useful as teacher quality in core competencies KI-2 and KI-4 in chemistry learning during the pandemic. In addition, this research needs to be carried out to identify students' communication and collaboration skills so that they can be used as reflective material for teachers to design learning that directs students to have communication and collaboration skills that are very much needed in today's 21st century.

Developing and measuring interpersonal communication in the online second language (L2) spanish classroom

This paper examines the use of technology in the development and assessment of interpersonal communication skills in an online second language (L2) Spanish classroom. The study explores the use of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools and strategies to promote interaction among learners, while also considering the challenges and limitations of assessing interpersonal communication skills in an online setting. The results of the study provide insights into effective evaluation methods for measuring the progress of L2 Spanish learners in the area of interpersonal communication.