Subjective and objective outcomes of communication skills training in the first year.

An 8-hour training programme in basic communication skills was carried out for an entire behavioural science class. Students participated in small-group practical workshops which focused on attending and primary accurate empathy (Egan, 1975). The latter was assessed objectively be written responses to short trigger statements, and in matched pre- and post-training measures showed a significant overall increase in empathetic responding. Student evaluations of the project were positive and allowed suggestions for increasing the impact of similar training efforts in the future.