Medical Students' Perceptions of the Value of Communication Skills and Their Attitudes Towards Learning Soft Skills
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1512.35Keywords:
communication skills, CSAS, learning needs and attitudes, medical studentsAbstract
Effective communication skills are essential for clinical practice; medical students' attitudes toward physician-patient communication are a real concern among the medical community. The present study aims to investigate the positive and negative attitudes of RUDN University medical students toward learning communication skills and to compare our findings with those from other countries. We adopted the Communication Skills Attitudes Scale (CSAS) as the primary research instrument due to its widespread use, validity, and reliability. First- and second-year medical students (n = 300) completed an online 26-item questionnaire, and all responses were analyzed using SPSS v. 20. Our study findings demonstrate that medical students consider learning communication skills essential for their professional clinical practices and for fostering a healthy environment between doctors and patients. We found that students had significantly more positive attitudes towards learning communication skills. Furthermore, statistically significant differences were found between the positive attitude scale and the negative attitude scale between male and female students. Overall, the findings of principal component analysis suggest the differences in eight components out of twenty-six items in many aspects from those of earlier research studies. The study concludes that attitudes towards communication skills are very important in guiding the communication skills of medical students and help them more broadly in learning communication skills.
References
Acharya, S., Preda, M. B., Papatheodorou, I. et al. (2023). The science behind soft skills: Do’s and Don’ts for early career researchers and beyond. A review paper from the EU-CardioRNA COST Action CA17129. Open Research Europe, 3:55. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.15746.2
Ahn, S., Yi, Y. H., & Ahn, D. S. (2009). Developing a Korean communication skills attitude scale: comparing attitudes between Korea and the West. Medical Education, 43(3), 246–253. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2008.03271.x
Anvik, T., Gude, T., Grimstad, H., Baerheim, A., Fasmer, O. B., Hjortdahl, P., Holen, A., Risberg, T., & Vaglum, P. (2007). Assessing medical students' attitudes towards learning communication skills--which components of attitudes do we measure? BMC Medical Education, 7(4), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-7-4
Anvik, T., Grimstad, H., Baerheim, A., Bernt Fasmer, O., Gude, T., Hjortdahl, P., Holen, A., Risberg, T., & Vaglum, P. (2008). Medical students' cognitive and affective attitudes towards learning and using communication skills--a nationwide cross-sectional study. Medical Teacher, 30(3), 272–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/01421590701784356
Bellier, A., Chaffanjon, P., Morand, P., Palombi, O., Francois, P., & Labarère, J. (2022). Student characteristics associated with interpersonal skills in medical consultations. BMC Medical Education, 22(1), 338. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03412-9
Cleland, J., Foster, K., & Moffat, M. (2005). Undergraduate students' attitudes to communication skills learning differ depending on year of study and gender. Medical Teacher, 27(3), 246–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/01421590400029541
Fazel, I., & Aghamolaei, T. (2011). Attitudes toward learning communication skills among medical students of a university in Iran. Acta medica Iranica, 49(9), 625–629.
Gilligan, C., Bujnowska-Fedak, M. M., Essers, G., Frerichs, W., Brinke, D. J.-T., Junod Perron, N., & Rosenbaum, M. (2024). Assessment of communication skills in health professions education; Ottawa 2024 consensus statement. Medical Teacher, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2024.2413021
Iwanow, L., Jaworski, M., Gotlib, J., & Panczyk, M. (2021). A Model of Factors Determining Nurses' Attitudes towards Learning Communicative Competences. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(4), 1544, 2-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041544
Khokhar, S., Pathan, H., Jhatial, A. A., Taj, S., & Mushtaq, F. (2021). Customization and validation of a scale measuring second language teachers' motivation for professionalization. TESOL International Journal, 16(1), 139–156.
Kuzminov, Y., Sorokin, P., & Froumin, I. (2019). Generic and specific skills as components of human capital: new challenges for education theory and practice. Foresight STI Gov., 13, 19–41. doi: 10.17323/2500-2597.2019.2.19.41
Marambe, K. N., Edussuriya, D. H., & Dayaratne, K. M. (2012). Attitudes of Sri Lankan medical students toward learning communication skills. Education for Health (Abingdon, England), 25(3), 165–171. https://doi.org/10.4103/1357-6283.109796
Meryn, S. (1998). Improving doctor-patient communication. Not an option, but a necessity. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 316(7149), 1922. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.316.7149.1922
Mohamad-Isa, M. Z., Mohamed-Yassin, M. S., Badlishah-Sham, S. F., Baharudin, N., & Ramli, A. S. (2021). Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Malay Version of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) among Medical Students in Malaysia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), 3778, 2-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073778
Nor, N. A., Yusof, Z. Y., & Shahidan, M. N. (2011). University of Malaya dental students' attitudes towards communication skills learning: implications for dental education. Journal of Dental Education, 75(12), 1611–1619. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.00220337.2011.75.12.tb05222.x
Pathan, H., Moskvitcheva, S. A., Khatoon, S., & Aleksandrova, O. I. (2024). The Relationship between Teachers’ Motivation, Professional Development, and Mobile Technology Integration in Language Learning. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 18(09), 50–60. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v18i09.48865
Rees, C., Sheard, C., & Davies, S. (2002). The development of a scale to measure medical students' attitudes towards communication skills learning: the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS). Medical Education, 36(2), 141–147. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2923.2002.01072.x
Rees, C., & Sheard, C. (2002). The relationship between medical students' attitudes towards communication skills learning and their demographic and education-related characteristics. Medical Education, 36, 1017-1027. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2923.2002.01333.x
Ruiz-Moral, R., Monge Martin, D., Garcia de Leonardo, C., Denizon, S., Cerro Pérez, A., & Caballero Martínez, F. (2021). Medical students' attitudes towards communication skills training: a longitudinal study with one cohort. GMS Journal for Medical Education, 38(6), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3205/zma001503
Sancho-Cantus, D., Cubero-Plazas, L., Botella Navas, M., Castellano-Rioja, E., & Cañabate Ros, M. (2023). Importance of Soft Skills in Health Sciences Students and Their Repercussion after the COVID-19 Epidemic: Scoping Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(6), 4901. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064901
Schmidt, J. M., Porter, J. T., Rivera-Amil, V., & Appleyard, C. B. (2023). Promoting crucial team building, collaboration, and communication skills in graduate students through interactive retreats. Advances in Physiology Education, 47(4), 919-929. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00125.2023
Shrivastava, S., Martinez, J., Coletti, D. J., & Fornari, A. (2022). Interprofessional Leadership Development: Role of Emotional Intelligence and Communication Skills Training. MedEdPORTAL, 18:11247. https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11247
Soomro, M. A., Siming, I. A., Channa, M. A., Shah, S. H. R., Naeem, N., & Abbasi. M. A. (2019). An Analysis of English Oral Communication Apprehension and Anxiety of Engineering Undergraduates in Pakistan. International Journal of English Linguistics, 9(2), 162-173. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v9n2p162
Street, R. L., Jr, Makoul, G., Arora, N. K., & Epstein, R. M. (2009). How does communication heal? Pathways linking clinician-patient communication to health outcomes. Patient Education and Counseling, 74(3), 295–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2008.11.015
Timilsina, S., Karki, S., & Singh, J. P. (2019). Attitudes of Recently Admitted Undergraduate Medical Students Towards Learning Communication-Skills: A Cross-Sectional Study from Chitwan Medical College. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 10, 963–969. https://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S229951
Varma, J., Prabhakaran, A., & Singh, S. (2018). Perceived need and attitudes towards communication skill training in recently admitted undergraduate medical students. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 3(3), 196–200. https://doi.org/10.20529/IJME.2018.049
Villán-Vallejo, A., Zitouni, A., García-Llamas, P. et al. (2022). Soft Skills and STEM Education: Vision of the European University EURECA-PRO. Berg Huettenmaenn Monatsh, 167, 485–488. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00501-022-01275-7
Zhang, Y., Jiang, G., Sun, Y., Zhao, X., & Yu, X. (2019). Adaptation of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) to Surgical Residents in China. Journal of Surgical Education, 76(2), 329–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsurg.2018.07.027
Zhao, Z., & Kularatne, I. (2020). Relationship between generic skills and employability skills: an exploratory study in the context of New Zealand postgraduate education. Management, 15, 291–307. doi: 10.26493/1854-4231.15.291-307
