Communication skills attitude scale: a translation and validation study in asample of registered nurses in Poland

Validation of the Bangla version of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale with the medical students of Bangladesh

Background

Effective communication skill of physicians is an important component of high-quality healthcare delivery and safe patient care. Communication is embedded in the social and cultural contexts where it takes place. An understanding of medical students' attitudes and learning communication skills would help to design and deliver culturally appropriate medical education. The Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) is a widely used and validated tool to measure the attitude of medical students toward learning communication skills in different populations, settings, and countries. However, there is no culturally adapted and validated scale in Bangla in the Bangladesh context. This study aims to culturally adapt the CSAS into Bangla, and validate it in a cohort of medical students in Bangladesh.

Methods

This study used a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from purposively selected 566 undergraduate medical students from the Rajshahi division. The survey was conducted from January to December 2023. Descriptive statistics like frequency distribution and measures of central tendency were used to measure perception regarding communication skills. The sample adequacy was measured through the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test. The internal consistency of the items was identified using Cronbach's alpha (α) coefficients.

Result

The results of the study show that the Bangla version of the scale is feasible, valid, and internally consistent in the context of a developing country, Bangladesh. The overall internal consistency of the Bangla version is good since the value of Cronbach's alpha (α) is 0.882. For PAS, the internal consistency is 0.933. While, for NAS, the value is 0.719. The item-wise average scores in the PAS indicate that female medical students are more willing to learn communication skills compared with male students (α = 0.933). While, the scores in the NAS indicate that the male students tend to have more negative attitude toward learning communication skills compared with female students (α = 0.719).

Conclusion

The CSAS-Bangla is a valid and reliable tool for assessing communication skill attitudes among Bangla speaking medical students. This scale can be used in future studies to measure the attitude of students, designing and evaluating communication skills training programs in medical colleges.

Tangible impact of patient communication modules on medical students and interns

Attitude, ethics, and communication are key attributes in the doctor-patient relationship and to strengthen these qualities, the National Medical Commission, the body that regulates medical education and medical professionals in India introduced a course called Attitudes, Ethics and Communication (AETCOM) in the undergraduate medical curriculum. The objective of this study was to ascertain the perceptible qualitative influence of the modules in communication in the AETCOM course and to obtain feedback on its implementation. In this cross-sectional study, the attitude of medical students in all stages of training including internship was first explored using a Communication Skills Attitude Scale. Out of 27 modules in AETCOM course, five modules named foundations of communication deal with communication, and they are taught from the first to final professional years of training. After introducing communication modules in AETCOM for all professional years, feedback was collected from interns who had completed training in all modules. The interns provided feedback with a validated scale and two focused group discussions. Additionally, feedback from faculty involved in teaching AETCOM was analyzed. There was a significant increase in the positive attitude scores in the final year and internship compared to the first year. Eighty percent of the interns agreed that communication modules in AETCOM were useful and that they equipped them with the communication skills required for actual practice during their internship. Faculty agreed that these modules motivated the students to acquire communication skills. However, faculty also felt that these modules alone may not be sufficient to learn communication skills.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In the current study, we have assessed the attitude of medical students toward learning communication skills in all stages of their training. The novelty of our study is that communication modules were formally introduced for the first time into the medical curriculum and feedback was obtained from a cohort of interns who completed training in all modules in communication from AETCOM. The feedback from faculty and students provided us with concepts to improvise these modules.

The effect of implementing the COMFORT communication model on communication skills of nursing students

BACKGROUND

Effective communication as a key component of palliative care requires sufficient knowledge and experience to make nursing interventions successful.

AIM

This quasi-experimental study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the COMFORT communication model as an intervention to improve student nurses' communication skills while they are under clinical training in specialist palliative care inpatient units.

METHODS

The population sample included 86 student nurses who were randomly assigned into two groups of 40. The intervention group received training on communication skills using the COMFORT communication model. Nine lectures were delivered online or offline; the lectures lasted between 25 to 60 minutes. The control group received the conventional educational programme about communication with patients and families, according to the curriculum of the bachelor's degree in nursing. Data were collected using the Communication Skills Questionnaire and Communication Skills Attitude Scale and analysed using IBM® SPSS® Statistics 22.0.

RESULTS

The findings showed that, after the implementation of COMFORT communication model, there was a statistically significant difference in communication skills between the intervention group (122.95±9.36) and the control group (110.1±8.92). There was also a significant difference in attitudes toward communication skills between the intervention group (90.25±8.86) and the control group (90.85±9.15) (P=0.0001). The findings of the study revealed that the COMFORT Communication model created significant statistical differences in the student's attitude, knowledge and communication skills.

CONCLUSION

Novice nurses sometimes struggle with the level of communication skills needed when caring for patients with an end-stage illness. The implementation of the COMFORT communication model significantly improved communication skills and attitudes toward communication. Due to the need to establish effective communication as the core of nursing practice, the implementation of this training programme is recommended for students and qualified nurses, particularly when providing palliative care.

Influence of Emotional Skills on Attitudes towards Communication: Nursing Students vs. Nurses

Communication in nursing is essential to the quality of care and patients' satisfaction, and personal variables such as empathy and emotional intelligence (EI) can improve it; however, no studies have to date analyzed these competencies and their relations among nursing students compared with nurses. The aims of this study are, therefore, to analyze the differences between nursing students and nurses in the means for empathy, EI and attitudes towards communication in order to assess the impact of empathy and EI on nurses' and nursing students' attitudes towards communication, and their influence on the behavioral dimension of attitude. A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on a convenience sample of 961 nursing students and 460 nurses from the Valencian Community, Spain. T-test and hierarchical regression models (HRM) were used. The data was collected in the selected universities in the 2018/2019 academic year. The results showed high levels in all the variables analyzed (i.e., empathy, EI, and attitudes towards communication) in both samples. The HRM results suggested that empathy was a better predictor than EI of the attitudes towards patient communication among both the nursing students and nurses. In the behavioral dimension of the attitude, the cognitive and affective dimensions had greater weight than the emotional component (i.e., empathy and EI). Developing empathy and the cognitive dimension of the attitude in nursing students and nurses could, therefore, help improve EI and attitudes towards communication. These findings are important for developing intervention programs adjusted to real needs.

Patient and family-centered care for children: A concept analysis

Background

Family-centered care has evolved into patient and family-centered care. Although this is not a new concept; however, its application to nursing practice is very challenging among nurses due to its ambiguity.

Objective

This study aimed to clarify the concept of patient and family-centered care for children.

Methods

Walker and Avant's concept analysis method was used. A literature search was also done using the following databases: Google Scholar, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, and Scopus, for articles published from 2011 to 2021.

Results

The defining attributes of patient and family-centered care are partnership, communication, respect, and compassion. Antecedents include patient and family involvement, readiness to collaborate and participate, competency and desire of the care professional team, supportive environment, and policies. Consequences of the patient and family-centered care include improved child outcomes and quality of life, promotion of patient safety, increased patient and family satisfaction, enhancement of humanistic values, reduction of hospitalization cost and length of stay, and decreased stress, anxiety, and depression in family members.

Conclusion

Four attributes of patient and family-centered care, its antecedents, and consequences may aid researchers in better understanding the concept and its application in nursing practice. This concept can also be used to establish quality care delivery strategies and promote professional relationships between nurses, patients, and families in clinical settings.

Perceiving the Role of Communication Skills as a Bridge between the Perception of Spiritual Care and Acceptance of Evidence-Based Nursing Practice-Empirical Model

Decision making using evidence-based practice (EBP) is generally universally accepted by nurses. Such acceptance may affect the personnel's behaviour towards patients, which is also demonstrated by taking into consideration the patient's preferences, including the patient's spiritual needs, in the care plan. The provision of such care requires the development of an attitude of approval and an adequate level of communicative competence, which will enable the actual implementation of the EBP. The purpose of our study was to assess the perception of spirituality and the nurse's role in providing spiritual care, as well as the perception of the significance of communication skills in the approval of EBP in professional practice. A multi-centre cross-section study was conducted on a population of 1176 participants (459 undergraduate (bachelor's programme, BP) and 717 postgraduate students (master's programme, MP)) from 10 medical universities in Poland. Three tools were used in the study to evaluate the participants' approach: Evidence-Based Practice Competence Questionnaire (EBP-COQ), The Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS), and Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS). Structural equation modelling was used for the analysis. An analysis of structural equations revealed the presence of positive relationships of the attitude to spiritual care and the role of communicative competences with the approach to EBP regardless of the cohort. A significant difference was found related to the influence of age on the attitude towards learning communicative competences. The approval in this respect was observed to decrease with age in the MP group. Increasing approval of EBP requires strengthening the approach to activity-centred spiritual care, with the simultaneous development of a positive attitude towards learning communicative competences. The model reveals the need to integrate a humanistic approach with EBP, which can be achieved by planning different interventions in different groups of recipients: nurses, academic teachers and students.

Psychometric properties of the Attitudes towards Medical Communication Scale in nursing students

BACKGROUND

Adequate communication skills in healthcare professionals are one of the key elements required for achieving high-quality healthcare. Thus, measurement instruments able to assess the dimensions related to these skills, including attitudes towards communication, are useful and convenient tools.

OBJECTIVES

To (a) cross-culturally adapt and validate a scale to measure attitudes towards communication in a sample of nursing students in the Spanish environment; (b) describe the perceived attitudes of nursing degree students towards communication.

METHODS

We conducted an instrumental study. First, we adapted the scale by applying a standardised linguistic validation procedure. After that, we determined its structural equivalence and evaluated its psychometric properties.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 255 students participated; their average age was 22.66 years (SD = 4.75) and 82% were female.

RESULTS

The internal consistency of the scale was adequate (0.75), and the data fit well with the model (CFI = 0.99; TLI = 0.99; RMSEA = .01 95% CI [.00-.05]). The overall instrument score poorly correlated with the self-efficacy in communication skills variable.

CONCLUSIONS

The attitudes towards communication scores for these nursing students were high. The Spanish version of the Attitudes Towards Health Communication scale had adequate psychometric properties and this tool could quickly and easily be applied to assess the attitudes of health profession students.

A Model of Factors Determining Nurses' Attitudes towards Learning Communicative Competences

The aim of the study was to assess the empirical model of factors determining the attitude towards acquiring communicative competences among nurses participating in the program of specialist training courses. Research was conducted using a cross-sectional study. A representative group of 1010 Polish registered nurses that took part in the postgraduate education course answered a self-report survey (three instruments: NEO-PI-R questionnaire, Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS), and Empathy Understanding Questionnaire (KRE II)) from the beginning of March to the end of May 2018, which was evaluated using path analysis. The research results conducted confirmed the soundness of the created theoretical model (χ² = 0.278, p = 0.598, RMSEA < 0.05). It was proved that acquiring communicative competences in nurses is determined by factors such as professional experience, empathic tendency, and the intensity of agreeableness, whereby these factors are bound with each other creating a homogeneous network. The developed model demonstrated that skills can most effectively be shaped in an individual’s attitude based on positive mentoring in work environment.

The impact of personality traits on attitudes toward learning communication skills

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between personality traits and attitudes toward learning communication skills in undergraduate medical students. The relation between students’ attitudes and personality trait could help us identify those who those who will need more support to develop communication skills, based on their personality traits.Methods: The data was collected data from an intentional and cross-sectional sample composed of 204 students from three Brazilian universities. The students answered questionnaires containing the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS-BR) and the Big Five Mini-Markers (BFMM) for personality. Data were analyzed using frequency calculations, principal components analysis, and the multiple linear regression model.Results: Seven among 26 items of the original Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) presented factor loads lower than |0.30| and must be excluded in the CSAS -BR that showed one domain including positive and negative attitudes. The value of Cronbach’s alpha of the 19-item scale was 0.894. The BFMM showed similar dimensional results with five domains with Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.804 for Extroversion, 0.753 for agreeableness, 0.755 for conscientiousness, 0.780 for neuroticism and 0.668 for openness. There were positive and statically significant linear associations with the CSAS-BR and agreeableness (β: 0.230, p<0.001), extraversion (β: 0.150, p=0.030), and openness to experience (β: 0.190, p=0.010). These personality factors drive social interactions and interpersonal relations, which involve the tendency to be friendly, flexible, and cooperative; to show a willing disposition; and the ability to actively engage with others. Conclusions: Based on the methods applied in this study, the results demonstrated a relation between agreeableness, extraversion and openness to experience with attitudes on communication skills in students from three Brazilian universities. Our results suggest that the evaluation of personality traits can contribute to the recognition of students for whom the establishment of special teaching strategies can improve communication skills.