Exploring Perception in Dental Students' Communication Skills: An Online Survey

Effective communication in dentistry is crucial for patient understanding and promoting health. Undergraduate dental education provides a critical opportunity to instil these skills.

To describe the self-perceptions of undergraduate dental students at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain) regarding their communication skills and evaluate communication training across the current undergraduate programme.

A structured multilingual online questionnaire was designed and distributed to undergraduate dental students during 2023. It collected demographic data (age, nationality, program year) and assessed global self-perceived communication competency (scored from 1 to 5), use of good communication practices (range of 0-28), perceived course impact on communication development, and adequacy and implementation of enabling methodologies. Communication development was evaluated across the curriculum.

Of 480 students, 137 (28.5%) participated in the survey (22-25 years old, 75.9% female). Communication competency was predominantly self-perceived as 'very good' (38.7%). Mean score of good communication practices was 23.6 (SD 3.3), showing significant differences by age (p = 0.02) and program year (p = 0.02). Interacting with patients and clinical cases was the primary methodologies preferred for developing communication skills. Integrating specific relational competencies defined by the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) throughout the curriculum was recommended.

Students reported high self-perception of their communication skills and consistent use of good communication practices in most clinical situations. Practical, patient-focused methodologies were preferred for skill acquisition by students. Specific ADEE relational competencies should be included in the curriculum to strengthen the communication skills of dental students.