Teaching self-awareness enhances learning about patient-centered interviewing

To evaluate the effect of intensive attitudinal training on residents' learning the patient-centered interviewing skills required to establish a healthy provider-patient relationship and to communicate effectively.

While teaching 53 residents patient-centered interviewing skills, the authors also trained them to recognize previously unrecognized, negative attitudes that interfered with learning the skills. The authors, using an iterative, consensus-building process based on the residents' performances and personality data, identified a spectrum of responses to the educational intervention. Barriers to and facilitators of mastery of skills were analyzed and this information was used to help residents overcome skill deficits.

To varying degrees, 44 residents became aware of previously unrecognized attitudes to the extent that they improved their patient-centered interviewing skills. Six residents failed to develop awareness of negative attitudes and showed little learning and clinical use of the interviewing skills being taught. Three residents who rapidly developed superb interviewing skills showed no negative attitude towards using them.

Pending a confirmatory hypothesis-testing study, the authors believe that, as residents learn how to conduct patient-centered interviews, training in awareness of interfering attitudes should accompany training in skills.