[Truncated abstract] This PhD project was comprised of three major studies. Study 1 utilised the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) to identify a typology of difficult patients in private practice physiotherapy and to determine strategies physiotherapists use and would like to improve, when dealing with such patients. Physiotherapists (n=37) also shared their expectations of patients and their perceptions of patient expectations of physiotherapy. Results showed that the two areas most difficult to manage were behavioural problems of patients followed by patient expectations. To assist in their interaction with difficult patients, physiotherapists identified communication skills and behaviour modification techniques as strategies they would most like to learn. While physiotherapists expressed the greatest number of expectations in the behavioural domain, identification of patient expectations was not elicited as a strategy to manage difficult patients. Results of this qualitative study contribute to the evolving literature relating to physiotherapist-patient interactions and form a useful basis for educational programs directed at improving the therapeutic relationship in private practice physiotherapy. Study 2 involved applying the NGT with separate groups of patients (n=26) to identify patient expectations of the qualities of a ‘good’ physiotherapist, and to ascertain the characteristics of good and bad experiences in private practice physiotherapy. Findings indicated that the qualities of a ‘good’ physiotherapist related to their communication ability, professional behaviour and organisational ability, and characteristics of the service provided. The most important expectations of patients were for example, symptomatic relief, self-management strategies and ‘hands on’ treatment; associated with the physical domain. When comparing equivalent groups from Study 1, with patient expectations, most patient groups identified that the most important expectations of physiotherapists would relate to patient behaviours such as; compliance, honesty, payment of their account, being punctual, cooperating, trusting and showing respect for their physiotherapist. However, physiotherapists’ rankings of the most important expectations held by patients were not congruent with patient rankings providing an explanation as to why problems may arise in the physiotherapistpatient interaction from the patient’s perspective. Based on the findings of Study 2 it was suggested that physiotherapists should actively seek to involve patients in their management. To do this effectively, physiotherapists would benefit from further training in communication skills to ensure that they can successfully adopt a patientcentred approach and to optimise the physiotherapist-patient interaction in private practice physiotherapy.

Thesis (M.A.T.) -- School for International Training, 2006. / Advisor -- Patrick Moran Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45).

The purposes of this investigation were (1) to determine if a systematic training program in communication skills could be used to improve written response levels of dental hygiene students, and (2) to determine if a systematic training program in communication skills could yield improved dental hygiene student-patient rapport. The experiment involved two groups of dental hygiene students that had previously been randomly selected and consisted of twelve junior and twelve senior students in each group. The entire population of dental hygiene students at Texas Woman's University participated in the study. Analysis of the data provided statistically significant findings on seven of the eight hypotheses. Those subjects in the systematic training program were able to demonstrate increased ability to write responses and, in addition, had higher patient rapport scores. The results were also statistically significant two weeks following the training period. It was, therefore, concluded that the systematic training program in communication skills was an effective teaching device for improving dental hygiene responses. The systematic training program also seemed to be an effective strategy for improving dental hygiene student-patient rapport formation.

O desenvolvimento de habilidades de comunicação em médicos tem sido apontado como uma necessidade e uma competência fundamental para o exercício da medicina. A empatia é uma habilidade interpessoal que pode ser descrita como a capacidade de compreender o ponto de vista e os sentimentos de uma outra pessoa sem julgá-los e de comunicar esse entendimento de modo que a pessoa que fala se sinta verdadeiramente compreendida pela pessoa que ouve. Essa habilidade promove um senso de validação na pessoa que fala, especialmente em situações de conflito, reduzindo a probabilidade de rompimento e fortalecendo os vínculos interpessoais. A empatia dos médicos é atribuída à sua educação pessoal, sendo raro o desenvolvimento dessa competência social durante o curso de formação médica. O desconhecimento sobre essa habilidade e sua função no exercício profissional motivou a realização deste estudo sobre a empatia em médicos que atuam em diferentes contextos de atenção à saúde no município do Rio de Janeiro. Participaram desta pesquisa 75 profissionais, dos quais 25 atuavam no nível da Atenção Primária, composto por equipes de saúde da família e por centros municipais de saúde; 12 pertenciam a unidades mais especializadas que correspondem ao nível de Atenção Secundária e 38 trabalhavam nos ambulatórios de hospitais universitários da Atenção Terciária. Foi aplicado o Inventário de Empatia (I.E.), que avalia os quatro fatores que compõem a habilidade empática: 1) Tomada de Perspectiva: capacidade de compreender o ponto de vista e os sentimentos da outra pessoa; 2) Flexibilidade Interpessoal: capacidade de aceitar perspectivas muito diferentes das próprias; 3) Altruísmo: capacidade de suspender temporariamente as próprias necessidades em função do outro; 4) Sensibilidade Afetiva: sentimento de compaixão e de preocupação com o outro. Os resultados mostraram que o grupo avaliado obteve médias semelhantes às apresentadas nos dados normativos do I.E. nos fatores Tomada de Perspectiva e Flexibilidade Interpessoal, enquanto superou a média no fator Altruísmo e ficou abaixo da média no fator Sensibilidade Afetiva. Esses dados indicam que a amostra de médicos avaliada possui uma capacidade mais acentuada de sacrificar suas próprias necessidades para atender ao outro, ainda que não associada necessariamente a um sentimento de compaixão equivalente. Isto pode estar relacionado com a reduzida importância dada ao aspecto emocional na formação médica. Em relação à avaliação da empatia por contexto de atenção em saúde, não foi encontrada diferença significativa entre os grupos com exceção do fator Tomada de Perspectiva. Neste componente, os médicos do Programa Saúde da Família destacaram-se significativamente do grupo de Atenção Secundária, o que parece estar relacionado com a proximidade do profissional com o contexto de vida do paciente e com a educação continuada que recebem através de treinamentos e capacitações onde são valorizadas as habilidades de comunicação desses profissionais. A partir desses resultados propõe-se que o desenvolvimento da empatia seja incluído nos cursos de formação médica e no planejamento das condições de trabalho nos diversos níveis de atenção à saúde. / The development of communication skills of physicians have been argued as a necessity and a fundamental competence for medical professional exercise. Empathy is an interpersonal ability that may be described as the capacity to comprehend another persons point of view and feelings without judging them and to communicate this comprehension in a way that the speaker feels truly understood by the listener. This ability promotes a validation sense on the speaker, especially in conflict situations, reducing the probability of breaking off and strengthening interpersonal ties. Physicians empathy is attributed to personal education, being rare the development of this social competence along the medicine graduation course. Unknowing about this ability and its function on professional exercise has motivated the realization of this study on empathy of physicians that work in different contexts of health care system in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The participants of this research were 75 physicians, who 25 worked at Primary Health Care level, composed by teams of Family Health Program and by physicians of ambulatory units; 12 belonged to more specialized units, which correspond to the Second Health Care level and 38 worked at universities hospitals of the Third Tier of Health Care. The Inventory of Empathy (I.E.) was applied, assessing the four factors that compose the empathic ability: 1) Perspective Taking: capacity of comprehending other persons point of view and feelings; 2) Interpersonal Flexibility: capacity of accepting perspectives very different from ones perspective; 3) Altruism: capacity of suspending temporary ones necessities for the other; 4) Emotional Sensibility: feeling of compassion and comprehension of the other. The results show that the assessed group has means similar to the ones presented in the normative data of the I.E. on the factors Perspective Taking and Interpersonal Flexibility while it has overtaken the mean of the factor Altruism and has undertaken the mean of the factor Emotional Sensibility. These data suggest that the physicians assessed have higher capacity of sacrificing their own necessities for attending the other, though it was not necessarily associated to an equivalent compassion feeling. This may be related to the reduced importance of emotional aspect in medical graduation. On the assessment of empathy by contexts of health attention, it was not found a significant difference between the groups, but the factor Perspective Taking. On this component, the physicians of Family Health Program have been significantly detached from the group of Second Health Care, what seems to be related to the physicians proximity of the patients life context and to the continuous education that they receive through trainings in which the communication skills of these professionals are highly valued. With these results, it is proposed that the development of empathy should be included in medical training and on the working conditions plans of all health attention levels.

Doctor of Philosophy / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Jared R. Anderson / Marriage and relationship education (MRE) is most commonly delivered in a skills-based format that traditionally centers on teaching couples communication skills. Critiques against the current skills-development approach lead to the development and pilot-testing of an alternative self-development curriculum entitled, “Strengthen Yourself, Strengthen Your Relationships.” Guided by Bowen’s (1978) theory of differentiation, the current study randomly assigned forty couples to the self-development (differentiation) curriculum condition or to a relationship assessment plus feedback condition. Repeated measures ANOVA’s, independent samples t-tests, and regressions were used to analyze the data from pre- to post-test (5 weeks), post-test to follow-up (4 weeks), and pre-test to follow-up (9 weeks). Statistical analyses indicate that women responded more favorably to the feedback condition in terms of differentiation, relationship self-regulation, and problem solving, whereas men responded more favorably to the curriculum condition in terms of relationship self-regulation. Feedback about the curriculum was gathered from participants and was received favorably. Implications from the study suggest that both approaches may have unique value for couples receiving relationship education. Future research should further develop and evaluate the self-development approach in MRE.

O desenvolvimento de habilidades de comunicação em médicos tem sido apontado como uma necessidade e uma competência fundamental para o exercício da medicina. A empatia é uma habilidade interpessoal que pode ser descrita como a capacidade de compreender o ponto de vista e os sentimentos de uma outra pessoa sem julgá-los e de comunicar esse entendimento de modo que a pessoa que fala se sinta verdadeiramente compreendida pela pessoa que ouve. Essa habilidade promove um senso de validação na pessoa que fala, especialmente em situações de conflito, reduzindo a probabilidade de rompimento e fortalecendo os vínculos interpessoais. A empatia dos médicos é atribuída à sua educação pessoal, sendo raro o desenvolvimento dessa competência social durante o curso de formação médica. O desconhecimento sobre essa habilidade e sua função no exercício profissional motivou a realização deste estudo sobre a empatia em médicos que atuam em diferentes contextos de atenção à saúde no município do Rio de Janeiro. Participaram desta pesquisa 75 profissionais, dos quais 25 atuavam no nível da Atenção Primária, composto por equipes de saúde da família e por centros municipais de saúde; 12 pertenciam a unidades mais especializadas que correspondem ao nível de Atenção Secundária e 38 trabalhavam nos ambulatórios de hospitais universitários da Atenção Terciária. Foi aplicado o Inventário de Empatia (I.E.), que avalia os quatro fatores que compõem a habilidade empática: 1) Tomada de Perspectiva: capacidade de compreender o ponto de vista e os sentimentos da outra pessoa; 2) Flexibilidade Interpessoal: capacidade de aceitar perspectivas muito diferentes das próprias; 3) Altruísmo: capacidade de suspender temporariamente as próprias necessidades em função do outro; 4) Sensibilidade Afetiva: sentimento de compaixão e de preocupação com o outro. Os resultados mostraram que o grupo avaliado obteve médias semelhantes às apresentadas nos dados normativos do I.E. nos fatores Tomada de Perspectiva e Flexibilidade Interpessoal, enquanto superou a média no fator Altruísmo e ficou abaixo da média no fator Sensibilidade Afetiva. Esses dados indicam que a amostra de médicos avaliada possui uma capacidade mais acentuada de sacrificar suas próprias necessidades para atender ao outro, ainda que não associada necessariamente a um sentimento de compaixão equivalente. Isto pode estar relacionado com a reduzida importância dada ao aspecto emocional na formação médica. Em relação à avaliação da empatia por contexto de atenção em saúde, não foi encontrada diferença significativa entre os grupos com exceção do fator Tomada de Perspectiva. Neste componente, os médicos do Programa Saúde da Família destacaram-se significativamente do grupo de Atenção Secundária, o que parece estar relacionado com a proximidade do profissional com o contexto de vida do paciente e com a educação continuada que recebem através de treinamentos e capacitações onde são valorizadas as habilidades de comunicação desses profissionais. A partir desses resultados propõe-se que o desenvolvimento da empatia seja incluído nos cursos de formação médica e no planejamento das condições de trabalho nos diversos níveis de atenção à saúde. / The development of communication skills of physicians have been argued as a necessity and a fundamental competence for medical professional exercise. Empathy is an interpersonal ability that may be described as the capacity to comprehend another persons point of view and feelings without judging them and to communicate this comprehension in a way that the speaker feels truly understood by the listener. This ability promotes a validation sense on the speaker, especially in conflict situations, reducing the probability of breaking off and strengthening interpersonal ties. Physicians empathy is attributed to personal education, being rare the development of this social competence along the medicine graduation course. Unknowing about this ability and its function on professional exercise has motivated the realization of this study on empathy of physicians that work in different contexts of health care system in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The participants of this research were 75 physicians, who 25 worked at Primary Health Care level, composed by teams of Family Health Program and by physicians of ambulatory units; 12 belonged to more specialized units, which correspond to the Second Health Care level and 38 worked at universities hospitals of the Third Tier of Health Care. The Inventory of Empathy (I.E.) was applied, assessing the four factors that compose the empathic ability: 1) Perspective Taking: capacity of comprehending other persons point of view and feelings; 2) Interpersonal Flexibility: capacity of accepting perspectives very different from ones perspective; 3) Altruism: capacity of suspending temporary ones necessities for the other; 4) Emotional Sensibility: feeling of compassion and comprehension of the other. The results show that the assessed group has means similar to the ones presented in the normative data of the I.E. on the factors Perspective Taking and Interpersonal Flexibility while it has overtaken the mean of the factor Altruism and has undertaken the mean of the factor Emotional Sensibility. These data suggest that the physicians assessed have higher capacity of sacrificing their own necessities for attending the other, though it was not necessarily associated to an equivalent compassion feeling. This may be related to the reduced importance of emotional aspect in medical graduation. On the assessment of empathy by contexts of health attention, it was not found a significant difference between the groups, but the factor Perspective Taking. On this component, the physicians of Family Health Program have been significantly detached from the group of Second Health Care, what seems to be related to the physicians proximity of the patients life context and to the continuous education that they receive through trainings in which the communication skills of these professionals are highly valued. With these results, it is proposed that the development of empathy should be included in medical training and on the working conditions plans of all health attention levels.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference in functional communication skills between elderly persons in nursing homes and those living independently in the community. Thirty non-institutionalized elderly subjects were given the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) screening tool. These scores were compared to WAB screening scores obtained from 20 institutionalized subjects. The difference between these scores was statistically significant. The institutionalized subjects' scores were also correlated with a Facilitators Evaluation of Communication Skills (FECS) inventory. Results showed a moderate correlation between the institutionalized subjects' WAB screening score and their FECS rating. The benefits of a screening tool for elderly populations are discussed.

The purpose of this project is to design a new course outline for the Office Occupations/Word Processing course for high school and adult students. Specifically, the course outline will serve students who are at least 16 years old. The content of the course consists of interpersonal and communication skills, hardware/software management, text editing concepts and skills, clerical skills, job search skills, data entry and database, information processing, and telecommunication skills.

No description available.

Objective. To evaluate the impact of an interprofessional blended learning course on medical and pharmacy students’ patient-centered interpersonal communication skills and to compare precourse and postcourse communication skills across first-year medical and second-year pharmacy student cohorts. Methods. Students completed ten 1-hour online modules and participated in five 3-hour group sessions over one semester. Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) were administered before and after the course and were evaluated using the validated Common Ground Instrument. Nonparametric statistical tests were used to examine pre/postcourse domain scores within and across professions. Results. Performance in all communication skill domains increased significantly for all students. No additional significant pre/postcourse differences were noted across disciplines. Conclusion. Students’ patient-centered interpersonal communication skills improved across multiple domains using a blended learning educational platform. Interview abilities were embodied similarly between medical and pharmacy students postcourse, suggesting both groups respond well to this form of instruction.