This study intends to inspect medical students’ attitudes regarding the learning of communication skills and to inspect the relationship of Pakistani undergraduate medical students’ attitudes towards the learning of communication skills with demographic and education-related characteristics (gender, age, residence and parents’ occupation). The population of the research was the 5th professional, undergraduate medical students of Pakistani medical colleges. Samples were taken from four Pakistani public medical colleges. Data for this research has been collected through the use of already designed communication skills attitude scale by Rees et al. A pilot study was conducted for checking reliability and validity of CSAS and on the basis of findings of pilot study. Some modifications have also been done in CSAS of Rees et al. Data has been analyzed through SPSS version 20. Results of this research have shown that Pakistani medical students carry both positive and negative attitudes towards learning of communication skills.
References
[1]
Ong, L.M., de Haes, J.C., Hoos, A.M. and Lammes, F.B. (1995) Doctorpatient Communication: A Review of the Literature. Social Science & Medicine, 40, 903-918. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(94)00155-M
[2]
Krench, D. and Crutchfield, R. (1948) Theory and Problems of Social Psychology. McGraw-Hill, New York.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/10024-000
[3]
Languille, D.B., Kaufman, D.M., Laidlaw, T.A., Sargeant, J. and Macleod, H. (2001) Faculty Attitudes toward Medical Communication and Their Perceptions of Students’ Communication Skills Training at Dalhousie University. Medical Education, 35, 548-554. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2923.2001.00921.x
[4]
Batenburg, V. and Smal, J.A. (1997) Does a Communication Skills Course Influence Medical Students’ Attitudes? Medical Teacher, 19, 263-269. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/01421599709034203
[5]
Rees, C., Sheard, C. and Davies, S. (2002) The Development of a Scale to Measure Medical Students’ Attitudes towards Communication Skills Learning: The Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS). Medical Education, 36, 141-147. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2923.2002.01072.x
[6]
Rees, C.E. and Garrud, P. (2001) Identifying Undergraduate Medical Students’ Attitudes towards Communication Skills Learning: A Pilot Study. Med Teacher, 23, 400-406. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01421590120057067
[7]
Kaufman, D.M., Laidlaw, T.A., Langille, D, Sargeant, J. and MacLeod, H. (2001) Differences in Medical Students’ Attitudes and Self-Efficacy Regarding Patient-Doctor Communication. Academic Medicine, 76, 188.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200102000-00022
[8]
Rees, C. and Sheard, C. (2003) Evaluating First-Year Medical Students’ Attitudes to Learning Communication Skills before and after a Communication Skills Course. Medical Teacher, 25, 302-307.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0142159031000100409
[9]
Fazel, I. and Aghamalaei, T. (2011) Attitudes toward Learning Communication Skills among Medical Students of a University in Iran. Acta Medica Iranica, 49, 625-629.
[10]
Ganasegeran, K. and Al-Dubai, S.A.R. (2014) Medical Professionalism from a Socio-Cultural Perspective: Evaluating Medical Residents Communicative Attitudes during the Medical Encounter in Malaysia. Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, 60, 12-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0022-3859.128799
[11]
Cleland, J., Foster, K. and Moffat, M. (2005) Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes to Communication Skills Learning Differ Depending on Year of Study and Gender. Medical Teacher, 27, 246-251.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01421590400029541
[12]
Khashab, S.S. (2006) Attitudes of Alexandria Medical Students towards Communication Skills Learning. Journal of Egypt Public Health Association, 81, 355-372.
[13]
Molinuevo, B. and Torrubia, R. (2013) Does Personality Predict Medical Students’ Attitudes to Learning Communication Skills? International Journal of Medical Education, 4, 155-161. http://dx.doi.org/10.5116/ijme.51f4.f2de
[14]
Liddell, M.J. and Davidson, S.K. (2004) Student Attitudes and Their Academic Performance: Is There Any Relationship? Medical Teacher, 26, 52-56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01421590310001642993
[15]
Yasmin, M. (2014) Using Simulation in Teaching Oral Skills to Hotel Management Students. In Borg, S., Ed., Teacher Research in Pakistan: Enhancing the Teaching and Learning of English, British Council, Lahore, 67-75.
[16]
Yasmin, M., Sohail, A. and Mangrio, R.A. (2015) Myths Broken or Sustained: Representation of Women Victims in Pakistani Media. Open Journal of Social Science, 3, 209-219. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jss.2015.37033
Macdonald, S. and Headlam, N. (1986) Research Methods Handbook Introductory Guide to Research Methods for Social Research. Centre for Local Economic Strategies, Manchester.
[19]
Dornyei, Z. and Taguchi, T. (2010) Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing. 2nd Edition, Routledge, New York.
[20]
Marambe, K.N., Edussuriya, D.H. and Dayaratne, K. (2012) Attitudes of Sri Lankan Medical Students toward Learning Communication Skills. Education for Health, 25, 165-171.