Does the inclusion of 'professional development' teaching improve medical students' communication skills?

BMC Medical Education

Table 2 Mean scores by time and cohort for Interview Rating Scale (total and individual items)

Interview Rating Scale scores	Traditional curriculum		Professional development curriculum		Repeated measures ANOVA^§
	Year 1	Year 2	Year 1	Year 2
Total score	30.70	33.64	31.06	35.80	Time: F _1,81 = 30.9, p < 0.001
Items:
Beginning of interview	1.95	2.32	1.97	2.50	Time: F _1,63 = 11.1, p = 0.001
Body posture	2.91	2.97	2.74	3.23	Time: F _1,81 = 5.5, p = 0.021
Eye contact	3.40	3.76	3.67	3.82	Time: F _1,81 = 11.4, p = 0.001
Frequency of interruptions	2.87	2.92	2.98	3.39	Time: F _1,81 = 4.4, p = 0.039 Cohort: F _1,81 = 4.5, p = 0.036
Use of silence	2.29	2.42	2.61	2.99	Time: F _1,80 = 4.6, p = 0.035 Cohort: F _1,80 = 7.5, p = 0.004
Use of facilitation	2.72	2.94	2.95	3.12	Time: F _1,80 = 4.6, p = 0.035
Ability to keep discussion relevant	3.19	3.30	2.70	3.69	Interaction: F _1,81 = 18.0, p < 0.001
Discussion of personal issues	2.03	2.38	2.27	2.57	Time: F _1,74 = 4.1, p = 0.047
Empathy	2.20	2.40	2.07	2.34	no effects significant
Warmth	2.77	2.84	2.70	3.01	no effects significant
Questioning style	2.36	2.84	2.44	2.87	Time: F _1,81 = 17.0, p < 0.001
Ending of interview	1.99	2.37	1.91	2.16	Time: F _1,81 = 8.2, p = 0.005

^§ Significant effects only shown; main effects are not shown if the interaction was significant.

ISSN: 1472-6920