Attitudes toward learning communication skills among Iranian medical students

Attitudes determine behavior, and alterations in attitude may result in behavioral changes. Medical students would benefit from learning communication skills. This study aimed to determine the attitude of medical students toward the importance of learning communication skills and the training courses and their role in contributing.

In this cross-sectional study, 442 medical students from three different levels of medical training were enrolled. Students in the first 4 years of the medical program were classified as basic sciences and physiopathology students, those in the fifth and sixth years were classified as clerkship students, and those in the last three terms of medical training were classified as interns. The attitude among these three groups was assessed by the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) questionnaire, and the contributing factors were determined.

The mean total points for attitude in positive and negative aspects were 50.7 and 30.9, respectively showing a positive attitude toward communication skills among medical students. The median scores of the scales Important in Medical Content, Excuse, Learning, and Overconfidence varied significantly from highest to lowest, respectively. Gender, educational level, ethnic origin, language, family burden, paternal literacy, history of presence in communication skills courses, self-report from communication skills, and need to further learning in this era showed significant association with attitude (P < 0.05).

It may be concluded that generally, medical students have a positive attitude toward communication skills, and this perspective is a multi-factorial entity that programming according to the various related factors would help to attainment of additional communication capabilities among medical students.