Communication skills training for general practitioners to promote patient coping: the GRIP approach

To develop, perform and test the effects of a communication skills training program for general practitioners (GPs). The program specifically addresses the patients' coping and resources despite more or less severe psychological or physical illness.

A training model was developed, based on cognitive therapy and solution-focused therapy. The training was given the acronym GRIP after its main content: Get a measure of the patient's subjective complaints and illness attributions. Respond to the patient's understanding of the complaints. Identify resources and solutions. Promote positive coping. The study involved a quasi-experimental design in which 266 consultations with 25 GPs were video recorded. Forty hours of communication skills training were given to the intervention group.

Consultation duration, patient age and distress determined the frequency of the GRIP communication. There was a significant effect of training on four particular subcategories of the GRIP techniques. The effect of the training was most evident in a subgroup of GPs who used little or no resource-oriented communication before training.

This pilot training model may help change the GPs' communicative pattern with patients in some situations.

Communication skills training programmes that emphasize patient attributions and personal resources should be developed further and tested in general practice settings with an aim to promote patient coping.