Education, Medical
Conditions
Keywords
Communication skill, occupational therapy, intern
Brief summary
Effective communication is one of important skills in occupational therapy (OT) practice, affecting the effectiveness and quality of therapy. Although there are only a few courses on communication skills related to OT, there is a lack of a complete, suitable, and evidence-based OT communication skills teaching programs that can effectively improve the interns' communication skills. The purpose of the study is to develop a communication skills training program for occupational therapy interns in physical dysfunction practice (COPE), and examine the effectiveness of COPE.
Interventions
OTHERCOPE
The experimental group receives the COPE during their internships. The COPE consists of two part: (1) communication skills teaching and simulation practice; (2) clinical communication teaching: record the clinical treatment process of the interns and turn them into verbatim drafts. Experts then complied the strengths and weaknesses of the interns' communication skills based on the verbatim manuscripts and gave feedback on the interns' communication skills. The interns in the experimental group will participate 1 time of the communication skills teaching and simulation practice, and 3 times of the clinical communication teaching in three months.
Sponsors
National Taiwan University Hospital
Study design
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
20 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
\[interns\] * age ≥ 20 years * an intern of occupational therapy \[patients\] * age ≥ 20 years * enable to communicate with the others
Exclusion criteria
\[interns\] * unwilling to be recorded \[patients\] * have communication barriers * unwilling to be recorded
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Experts assessed interns' communication skills：Gap-Kalamazoo Communication Skills Assessment Forms (GKCSAF)-Faculty version | during procedure | The experts will use the questionnaire named GKCSAF (faculty version) to assess interns' communication skills via verbatim draft of the audio-recording. The GKCSAF contains 9 items: build a relationship, open the discussion, gather information, understand the patients' perspective, share information, reach agreement, provide closure, demonstrate empathy, and communicate accurate information. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The total score ranges from 5 to 45. The higher scores indicate better communication skills. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Patients or caregivers assessed interns' communication skills：Gap-Kalamazoo Communication Skills Assessment Forms (GKCSAF)-patient/caregiver version | during procedure | The patients will use the questionnaire named GKCSAF (patient/caregiver version) to assess the interns' communication skills after their occupation therapy. The items and the score range are the same with the faculty version. |
| Interns self-reported communication skills：Gap-Kalamazoo Communication Skills Assessment Forms (GKCSAF)-self-assessment version | during procedure | The interns will use the GKCSAF (self-assessment version) to assess their communication skills via verbatim draft of the audio-recording after they communicate with the patients. The items and the score range are the same with the faculty and patient/caregiver version. |
| Patients' engagements in occupational therapy：Occupational Therapy Engagement Scale (OTES) | during procedure | The experts will use OTES to assess patients' engagement in occupational therapy for one week. The OTES is a questionnaire which is designed to assess patients' engagement level in occupational therapy. The OTES contains 12 items, such as commit in therapy activities without being urged, sustain attention until the end of one therapeutic activity, and so on. Each item is rated on a 4-point scale. The total score ranges from 0 to 36. A higher sum score indicates a higher level of engagement. |
Countries
Taiwan
Contacts
Primary ContactSheau-Ling Huang, Ph.D.
Outcome results
None listed