Emotional Communication Skills Research Articles

Evaluation of communication skills of physicians working in a training and research hospital: A cross-sectional study

Communication; is a two-way process of reaching mutual understanding in which information is exchanged, produced and interpreted. The main component of the diagnosis and treatment process between patient and physician is communication. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the communication skills of physicians according to various variables. The cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted with physicians working at Haydarpaşa Numune Training and Research Hospital (HNH TRH) between May and August 2012. A total of 156 physicians who completed the scales and personal information form and met the inclusion criteria constituted the sample of the study. A total of 156 physicians with a mean age of 31.73±5.88 years participated in the study. Seventy-nine (50.6%) of the physicians reported that they could not devote enough time to themselves and their families, 118 (75.6%) physicians reported that they had communication problems with their patients in the past year, and only 56 physicians (35.9%) found themselves productive in their jobs. Sixty-five physicians (41.7%) felt exhausted, 116 (74.4%) of them reported that the reason for the communication problems they had was lack of time. There was a weak positive correlation between age and overall assessment of communication skills (p<0.05). There was a positive and weak correlation between age and mental and emotional communication skills (p<0.01). Limited time and low economic income negatively affect communication skills. Lowering patient density in hospitals and giving sufficient importance to primary health care services are needed. Focusing on communication skills training in medical schools and continuing this education throughout professional life can have positive effects on the patient-physician relationship.

Attitudes Towards Teaching Profession Among Prospective Kindergarten Teachers in Jordan: Association with Communication Skills, Self-Esteem, and Interest in Teaching

Prospective teachers’ attitudes towards teaching are grounded in their experiences of successes and failures as students. Thus, addressing their attitudes towards teaching before starting their profession is strategic. To this aim, this study explored Jordanian prospective kindergarten teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching profession. Furthermore, the study investigated the relative influence of participants’ self-esteem, communication skills, and interest in the teaching process on these attitudes. A total of 234 university students who were pursuing their bachelor degree in kindergarten education participated in the study. These were selected from the six universities offering bachelor programs in childhood education in Jordan. Three scales were administered through the internet to collect data from students. The results showed that the behavioral component of communication skills was significantly associated with attitudes. Neither cognitive nor emotional communication skills were significant predictors. Undergraduate curricula should aim to cultivate positive attitudes while addressing and improving negative ones. Fostering prospective teachers’ communication skills seemed to be a promising pathway to help promote positive attitudes and interest in teaching. Kindergarten education curriculum should help students improve, learn and use communication skills effectively.

Emotional labour in digital diplomacy: perceptions and challenges for European diplomats

Social media are increasingly important tools in diplomacy. Diplomats are expected to use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to communicate with each other and with both the domestic and international publics. This form of communication involves displaying positive emotions to generate attention in a competitive information environment. Emotions are essential to managing perceptions, conveying signals and safeguarding state reputations in traditional diplomacy. Commercial demands of online performance, however, activate new dimensions and challenges in the management of emotions in diplomacy. As digital disinformation and populist campaigns have transgressed the boundaries of domestic public debate, diplomats must also display emotional restraint to contain and counter such influence. This article analyses how diplomats perceive the demands of digital diplomacy and how emotions are engaged in their efforts to perform competently both online and offline. The study draws on fieldwork and interviews with 13 European diplomats as well as document analysis of handbooks and training material used to transfer ‘emotional communication skills’ to diplomats. The study findings suggest that the demands of digital diplomacy are challenging traditional enactments of ‘the good diplomat’. In addition to the tensions between outreach and countering communication practices, the emotional labour in digital diplomacy extends beyond what we see on social media. Diplomats perceive the expectations of constant performance online to at times conflict with their professional role offline.

A conversational agent for emotion expression stimulation in persons with neurodevelopmental disorders

Difficulty in emotion expression and recognition is typical of the personality trait known as alexithymia, which is often observed in persons with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). Past research has investigated various forms of conversational technology for people with NDD, but only a few studies have explored the use of conversational agents to reduce alexithymia. This paper presents Emoty, a speech-based conversational agent designed for people with NDD to train emotional communication skills. An original characteristic of this agent is that it exploits the emotional expression power of the voice. Emoty engages users in small conversations during which they are asked to repeat sentences and express specific emotions using the appropriate vocal tone. We ran an empirical study to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of our conversational agent. The study involved 19 Italian individuals with NDD and alexithymia aged from 29 to 45 (10 women and 9 men). They used Emoty in five individual sessions over two and a half months. The results showed that two subjects encountered problems using the system because they had difficulty verbalizing the sentences and were not understood by Emoty. The others performed the assigned tasks with the agent. Their capability to express emotions with the voice consistently improved, and other benefits were observed in other social and communication skills.

Disorganized/controlling attachments, emotion regulation, and emotion communication in later middle childhood

We assessed how disorganized and controlling attachments (disorganized/disoriented, caregiving/role-confused, hostile/punitive) in later middle childhood relate to children's emotion regulation and emotion communication skills (N = 87). Disorganized and controlling behaviors were assessed with the Middle Childhood Attachment Strategies Coding System (MCAS). Concurrent assessments of children's emotion regulation and communication included maternal and child self-reports, as well as observer ratings. Children with greater disorganization/disorientation showed lower emotion awareness, more difficulty managing their emotions, and poorer emotion expressiveness. Unique to children with greater hostile/punitive behaviors was greater affect intensity. In contrast, children with more caregiving/role confused behaviors spoke more in emotion conversations with their mothers and were part of mother-child dyads who rely on more positive words when discussing conflicts, suggesting that they have greater communication responsibility. Our findings underscore the importance of assessing each disorganized and controlling pattern in middle childhood to understand how disorganization and emotion development are related.

The effects of psychodrama on the emotional awareness and communication skills of psychiatric nurses: A randomized controlled trial

Psychiatric nurses should have good communication skills and emotional awareness to provide quality nursing care. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of psychodrama on emotional awareness and communication skills in psychiatric nurses in Istanbul, Turkey. A randomized controlled trial study (pretest-posttest control group design) was conducted with 26 psychiatric nurses in Istanbul. The psychiatric nurses were evaluated in terms of emotional awareness assessed by the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale and communication skills assessed by the Communication Skills Inventory. Two hours of psychodrama sessions (16 in total) were held once a week under the guidance of a psychodrama therapist and a co-therapist. The control group did not receive any intervention. The experimental group had significantly higher posttest total emotional awareness score and emotional communication skills score than pretest scores. There was no significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the control group. Psychodrama can be used to improve the communication skills and emotional awareness of psychiatric nurses.

The Effectiveness of Emotion-Communication Skills Training on Cognitive Emotion Regulation, Parental Self-Efficacy and Child Acceptance in Mothers of Children with Learning Disabilities

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of emotional communication skills training on emotion regulation, parental self-efficacy and child acceptance in mothers of children with special learning disabilities. The statistical population of this study consisted of all mothers of students with special learning disabilities. Sampling method was accessible in that the participants were selected from mothers of children with learning disabilities who referred to clinics under the supervision of education in Shiraz. Of the 32 selected participants, 15 were assigned to the experimental group and 17 to the control group, randomly. After the pretest, the experimental group was trained in emotional communication skills in ten sessions, while the control group did not receive any specific intervention. Then, post-test was performed for both groups. Garnefski Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), Dumka Parental Self Agency Measure (PSAM) and Parental Acceptance Questionnaire (PAQ) were used to collect data. The results indicated that the experimental and control groups had significant differences in the variables of cognitive emotion regulation, parental self-efficacy and parental acceptance. In general, the findings supported the effectiveness of emotional-communication regulation skills training on parental characteristics and personality of parents.

Positive Aspects of Emotional Competence in Preventing Internalizing Symptoms in Children with and without Developmental Language Disorder: A Longitudinal Approach

In order to better understand protective factors for internalizing problems, this longitudinal study examined positive emotions, emotion awareness and (non-)emotional communication skills in relation to somatic complaints and social anxiety in children with (N = 104) and without (N = 183) Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) using self-reported measures twice with a 9-month interval. Additionally, parents reported on their child’s communication problems and emotion communication at Time 1. Most importantly, since we found that increasing levels of emotion awareness related to decreases in social anxiety and somatic complaints in children with and without DLD, we conclude that children with DLD are likely to benefit from interventions aimed at improving their emotion awareness in addition to language interventions.

Let’s Connect: A developmentally-driven emotion-focused parenting intervention

Research on emotional development and emotion socialization emphasize the importance of supportive parent-child emotion communication, yet most empirically supported parenting interventions omit guidance on emotion communication skills. The primary goal of this paper is to introduce the Let's Connect emotion-focused parenting intervention as an innovative treatment modality for increasing supportive emotion socialization in families, drawing on developmental theory as a guiding framework. We provide an overview of the background for and development of Let's Connect. Results of a pilot study with 34 caregivers of school-age children (Mage = 8.45) in a community sample demonstrated significant increases in supportive emotion communication practices (e.g., listening and connection, labeling feelings, emotion support) as well as significant reductions in unsupportive emotion communication practices (e.g., invalidating or critical responses) from pre- to post-intervention, with gains maintained over a three-month period. Future directions and clinical applications of this intervention module are discussed.

Are we preparing future doctors to deal with emotionally challenging situations? Analysis of a medical curriculum

ObjectiveSkilful communication by doctors is necessary for healthcare delivery during emotionally challenging situations. This study analyses a medical curriculum for the frequency and intensity of teaching content on communication in emotionally challenging situations. MethodsA questionnaire with 31 questions (“EmotCog31”) was used to evaluate teaching sessions at 17 departments of a medical school for one semester. ResultsTeaching content on communication in emotionally challenging situations was observed in 62 of 724 (∼nine percent) teaching sessions. Fifty-six percent of these sessions were within psychosocial specialisations. Lecturers used mental diseases as teaching topics four times more than somatic diseases. Forty-two percent of the 62 sessions were large-group while fifty-eight percent were small-group, interactive sessions. Clinical examples were used in sixty-nine percent of these sessions. Eighty-one percent of the handouts provided and sixty-six percent of simulated patient scenarios used were rated as helpful. Two-thirds of teaching sessions were rated positively when they included practical context. ConclusionThere was a considerable lack of teaching on communication skills in an emotional context. Teaching was limited to psychosocial specialties, reducing the impact of available knowledge for other medical specialties. Practice ImplicationsMore interactive, practically oriented teaching methods are useful for teaching emotional communication skills.

Investigation of the Communication Skill Levels of Sports Club Managers

When a manager is in good communication with other staff, both the staff will be happy emotionally and will bring success to the manager. Consequently, the aim of this study was to identify the communication skill levels of the sport managers with different education levels and to investigate the effect of these different educational levels on communication skills. A “Communication skills was applied to 124 volunteers sport managers. The different questions on the scale reflect the mental, behavioral and emotional communication skills. It was observed that the education level of the sport managers was distributed as elementary school, secondary school, high school, undergraduate degree and graduate degree. As a result, no significant difference was found between the levels of communication skills of sport managers in relation with their age and gender (p>0.05). Furthermore, the general communication skill levels according to educational status of sport managers demonstrated significant difference (p˂0.05). University graduates are expected to increase their level of communication skills in terms of personal development owing both to their educational and pedagogical lessons and also as a result of the increasing communication with other persons.

FBT With Adjunctive Parent Emotion Coaching in an Adolescent Male With Anorexia Nervosa

Family-based therapy (FBT) is the gold standard of treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) and has shown to be more effective than other forms of treatment in several randomized controlled trials. However, FBT is a behaviorally based intervention that does not explicitly address emotional distress often exhibited by patients and their parents. This case study describes the treatment of a 14-year-old adolescent male with AN using FBT as the primary treatment modality. We also implemented an adjunctive treatment designed to address parents’ emotion communication skills (ECSs) to reduce emotion dysregulation and family conflict in the implementation of FBT and in the process of AN recovery. Over the course of 29 sessions, the adolescent has evidenced an increase in weight from 84 pounds to 110.25 pounds and significant decreases in weight and shape concerns. This case provides preliminary support for the feasibility and effectiveness of an adjunct parent emotion coaching intervention combined with FBT for an adolescent male with AN.

Сравнительный анализ гендерных особенностей эмоционально-коммуникативной сферы руководящего состава службы исполнения наказаний

The paper concerns the interdisciplinary problem at the junction of legal, organizational, gender, personality psychology, and psychology of labour. It includes several aspects which are themselves separate subjects of research, for example, effects of professional activities on mental and psychological health of the Federal Penitentiary Service staff, psychological characteristics of a person in a managerial position, gender-based characteristics of professional development, etc. In order to identify the gender characteristics in the field of emotional communication skills of the Penitentiary Service management staff, the study was undertaken using the following methods: Rapid Evaluation of Management Potential (N.P. Fetiskin, V.V. Kozlov, G.M. Manuylov); Evaluation of Communication and Organizational Aptitudes (authors V.V. Sinyavsky and B.A. Fedorishin); Orientation Styles of Professional Communication (N.P. Fetiskin, V.V. Kozlov, G.M. Manuylov); Burnout Assessment adapted by A.A. Rukavishnikov; Personal Aggressiveness and Proneness to Conflict (E.P. Ilyin and P.A. Kovalev); Behavior Self-Regulation Style (V.I. Morosanova, E.M. Konoz). The study involved 93 employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service (Tomsk), including 72 (77 %) men and 21 (23 %) women aged 27 to 52. The comparative analysis of mean values for the female and male samples was carried out using Student's t-test. It revealed that men have higher values on the planning, pertinacity, aggressiveness and negative aggressiveness scales, while women have higher values on the ability to compromise scale. The factor analysis shows that positive factors prevail in the male sample (41 % of the dispersion) as compared to the female sample (12 % of the dispersion). This suggests that it is necessary to develop a differentiated psychological support model for the staff and to enhance activities aimed at preventing and correcting psychological problems of female employees.

Emotional Processing, Recognition, Empathy and Evoked Facial Expression in Eating Disorders: An Experimental Study to Map Deficits in Social Cognition.

BackgroundDifficulties in social cognition have been identified in eating disorders (EDs), but the exact profile of these abnormalities is unclear. The aim of this study is to examine distinct processes of social-cognition in this patient group, including attentional processing and recognition, empathic reaction and evoked facial expression in response to discrete vignettes of others displaying positive (i.e. happiness) or negative (i.e. sadness and anger) emotions.MethodOne hundred and thirty-eight female participants were included in the study: 73 healthy controls (HCs) and 65 individuals with an ED (49 with Anorexia Nervosa and 16 with Bulimia Nervosa). Self-report and behavioural measures were used.ResultsParticipants with EDs did not display specific abnormalities in emotional processing, recognition and empathic response to others’ basic discrete emotions. However, they had poorer facial expressivity and a tendency to turn away from emotional displays.ConclusionTreatments focusing on the development of non-verbal emotional communication skills might be of benefit for patients with EDs.

A Meta-analytic Review of Components Associated with Parent Training Program Effectiveness

This component analysis used meta-analytic techniques to synthesize the results of 77 published evaluations of parent training programs (i.e., programs that included the active acquisition of parenting skills) to enhance behavior and adjustment in children aged 0-7. Characteristics of program content and delivery method were used to predict effect sizes on measures of parenting behaviors and children's externalizing behavior. After controlling for differences attributable to research design, program components consistently associated with larger effects included increasing positive parent-child interactions and emotional communication skills, teaching parents to use time out and the importance of parenting consistency, and requiring parents to practice new skills with their children during parent training sessions. Program components consistently associated with smaller effects included teaching parents problem solving; teaching parents to promote children's cognitive, academic, or social skills; and providing other, additional services. The results have implications for selection and strengthening of existing parent training programs.

Emotion skills training for medical students: a systematic review

To identify emotion skills training methods and outcomes using a systematic review of medical student curricula studies. We searched the English language literature listed in the PubMed, Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), PsycINFO and Web of Science databases, from 1980 to the present, using a comprehensive list of emotion skills keywords and subsequent hand searches. A total of 828 articles were initially identified. A manual search yielded 161 articles on broadly defined emotion skills educational programmes for medical students. A more stringent review and hand search of reference lists yielded a final 26 articles that included 'other-directed' emotion skills (i.e. cognitive and behavioural skills intended to manage the emotions of others), a description of the training programme, and assessment data. Emotion skills courses varied by total number of contact hours (2-64 hours), session frequency (from 1 session per day to 1 session every 6 months), duration (2 weeks to 2 years), pedagogy, patients targeted and educational outcomes. Student evaluation data were positive. Fifteen of 26 studies used objective emotion skills measures. Only 6/26 studies included a control or comparison condition and 5/26 used a randomised, controlled trial (RCT) design. All 5 RCTs showed positive outcomes with modest improvements in emotion communication skills, empathy, use of emotion words, supportive behaviours and enriched patient understanding. The heterogeneity of emotion skills curricular studies makes direct comparisons difficult. However, all controlled trials showed positive outcomes, suggesting the importance and effectiveness of 'other-directed' emotion skills training. No specific recommendations about curricular amount and frequency, timing and pedagogy can be made.

The role of social and emotional communication skills in leader emergence and effectiveness.

The role of social and emotional communication skills in leader emergence and effectiveness.

Determinants of HIV Risk Reduction Behaviors Among Female Partners of Men with Hemophilia and HIV Infection

Determinants of safer sexual behaviors (abstinence or consistent condom use) among female partners of HIV-infected adult men with hemophilia were examined. A model was proposed predicting that emotional adjustment, communication skills, self-efficacy, and perceived advantages of condom use would influence the practice of safer sexual behaviors. Confidential surveys were completed by 119 seronegative female partners of men with hemophilia and HIV infection who received care from one of 27 hemophilia treatment centers across the United States. The proposed model was tested using LISREL, and the model explained 40% of the variance in safer sexual behaviors. Emotional adjustment was a significant predictor of both intimate and emotional communication skills. Intimate and emotional communication skills were related to self-efficacy for communicating about safer sex, which in turn influenced both communication about safer sex and perceived advantages of condom use. Communication about safer sex with a partner and perceived advantages of condom use had direct effects on safer sexual behaviors. HIV prevention interventions with women known to have seropositive partners should be multifaceted. Skill-building interventions emphasizing communication skills, increasing self-efficacy for communication about safer sex with a partner, and promoting positive attitudes about safer sex should be considered.

Emotion communication skills in young, middle-aged, and older women.

We assessed the effectiveness of an emotion induction procedure for the study of emotional communication in adults; we also gathered preliminary age-comparative data on the expressive and receptive capacities of a sample of adult women. Young, middle-aged, and older women (encoders) related emotional experiences following mood induction and then assessed the intensity of their affective experiences. Videotapes of these sessions (facial expressions only) were shown to young, middle-aged, and older female judges (decoders), who rated the encoders for emotional intensity as well as for type of affect being communicated. Validity and reliability issues with respect to the procedure's usefulness are discussed. Decoding accuracy was found to vary with age congruence between encoder and decoder, suggesting a decoding advantage accruing through social contact with like-aged peers. Older decoders did most poorly, but a differential warm-up effect was evident, suggesting that the performance of older subjects might be enhanced with practice. There were also trends suggesting that the affective expressions of older subjects may be harder to decode owing to age-related structural changes in the face. Results are discussed in the context of theoretical models of affective development.

Emotion communication skills in young, middle-aged, and older women.

Emotion communication skills in young, middle-aged, and older women.