Enhancing listening skills among future public health professionals: a pre-post educational intervention study

The purpose of this study was to promote active listening skills among college-students majoring in health professions. The primary objective of this pre-post educational intervention study was to examine how students' confidence in active listening skills changed during a 13-week wellness coaching training course. The secondary objective of the study was to examine how students' baseline active listening skill confidence was correlated with change in active listening confidence across the course.

This single-group pre-post design evaluated was used to evaluate listening skills among 74 college-students enrolled in a 13-week course. The service-learning component of the course was in collaboration with the workplace wellness program utilized by university employees. College-student participants engaged in 5-weeks of curricular training prior to being paired with university faculty and staff/employees who served as clients. Pre-to-post training changes in students' confidence and knowledge in the provision of active-listening and behavior change support were evaluated. Three subscales were used to assess listening (AELS; sensing, processing, and responding) and an adapted Communication Evaluation in Rehabilitation Tool.

College students' processing and reflective listening skills improved from pre- to post-intervention (p < 0.01, p < 0.01). Additionally, sensing, the most complex level of listening, also improved from pre- to post-intervention (p < 0.1). Lower baseline confidence in reflective listening was associated with greater improvements in active listening skills.

Training undergraduate students in active listening represents a promising and feasible approach for enhancing communication skills within behavior-change education. Future studies should build on these findings by incorporating objective assessments of listening skill application to further strengthen evidence for this educational approach.