School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Robert Gordon University, St Andrew Street, Aberdeen, UK.
J Hum Nutr Diet. 2012 Apr;25(2):189-97. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-277X.2012.01226.x. Epub 2012 Feb 14.
Communication is a core skill and a prerequisite for dietitians' clinical competence. It is generally acknowledged that communication skills can be taught and learned. There is a paucity of published work identifying dietetic students' attitudes towards learning communication skills, and understanding this is important.
The present cross-sectional study aimed to address this issue using an adapted version of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS), which was designed to capture information concerning positive and negative attitudes to learning communication skills. An online questionnaire was sent to all undergraduate and post-graduate dietetic programmes in the UK.
Of the students' solicited for enrolment in the study, 33.4% (n = 300) completed the questionnaire. A one-way analysis of variance showed attitudes to learning communication skills differed significantly between years of study on both subscales of the CSAS. Subsequent analyses indicated that first-year students' attitudes to learning communication skills were significantly more positive than those of fourth-year students (P = 0.042). Third-year students had significantly more positive attitudes to learning communication skills than fourth-year students (P = 0.028). Negative attitudes were also linked to the year of study with fourth-year students having significantly more negative attitudes than third-year students (P = 0.046). Sex, practice placement experience and parental occupation did not significantly influence attitudes to learning communication skills.
These findings indicate that efforts are required to maintain positive attitudes to learning communication skills. Further longitudinal studies are recommended in this respect.
沟通是营养师临床能力的核心技能和前提。人们普遍认为沟通技巧可以教授和学习。目前，很少有发表的工作来确定营养学生对学习沟通技巧的态度，了解这一点很重要。
本横断面研究使用经过改编的沟通技巧态度量表（CSAS）来解决这个问题，该量表旨在收集有关学习沟通技巧的积极和消极态度的信息。向英国所有本科和研究生营养课程的学生发送了在线问卷。
在所邀请的参加研究的学生中，有 33.4%（n=300）完成了问卷。单因素方差分析显示，CSAS 的两个分量表上，学习沟通技巧的态度在不同的学习年限之间存在显著差异。随后的分析表明，一年级学生学习沟通技巧的态度明显比四年级学生更积极（P=0.042）。三年级学生学习沟通技巧的态度明显比四年级学生更积极（P=0.028）。与学习年限也与消极态度有关，四年级学生的消极态度明显比三年级学生更严重（P=0.046）。性别、实践安置经验和父母职业对学习沟通技巧的态度没有显著影响。
这些发现表明，需要努力保持对学习沟通技巧的积极态度。建议在这方面进行进一步的纵向研究。
