Effect of a One-Time Communication Training Session on Dental Students’ Self-Efficacy Expectancy

Thekla J. Grötz (), Lisa Zöll, Anke Hollinderbäumer, Thomas Nowak, Tamara Zajontz, Lina Behling, Sabine Fischbeck, Uwe Schmidt and James Deschner
Additional contact information
Thekla J. Grötz: Department of Periodontology and Operative Dentistry, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany
Lisa Zöll: Department of Periodontology and Operative Dentistry, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany
Anke Hollinderbäumer: University Medical Center, University of Mainz, Rudolf Frey Lernklinik, 55131 Mainz, Germany
Thomas Nowak: University Medical Center, University of Mainz, Rudolf Frey Lernklinik, 55131 Mainz, Germany
Tamara Zajontz: Center for Quality Assurance and Development (ZQ), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55124 Mainz, Germany
Lina Behling: Center for Quality Assurance and Development (ZQ), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55124 Mainz, Germany
Sabine Fischbeck: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg-University, 55099 Mainz, Germany
Uwe Schmidt: Center for Quality Assurance and Development (ZQ), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55124 Mainz, Germany
James Deschner: Department of Periodontology and Operative Dentistry, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-8

Abstract: An implementation of training units that provide evidence for improving students’ communication skills in the dental curriculum is now more than ever of utmost importance. This study aimed to investigate how students assess their skills after communication training and whether this training also increased students’ self-efficacy expectancy. A total of 32 male and 71 female students with a mean age of 25.6 ± 3.9 years participated in the study. Self-assessment of communication skills and self-efficacy expectancies were collected at two time points using Likert scales. Our study shows that the communication training, consisting of a practical exercise with actors and an online theory module, significantly improved the students’ self-assessment of their communication skills and also improved some aspects of self-efficacy expectancy. These results indicate that, in addition to the practical and technical-theoretical training of students, communication training is essential in the dental curriculum. In summary, this study showed that a one-time practical exercise with actors together with an online theory module could improve both the self-assessment of communication competence and some aspects of self-efficacy expectancy, which demonstrates the importance of training communication skills alongside practical and technical-theoretical training.

Keywords: communication skills; dental curriculum; dental education; self-efficacy expectancy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3323/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3323/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:3323-:d:1067765

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().