Improving international medical students' communication skills in psychosomatic care through a communication training...

International students face numerous challenges in both their academic and social lives when relocating to a new country for their university studies. The foreign language can have an impact on international medical students' performance in patient encounters. Particularly in the context of psychosocial medicine, a deficiency in communication skills can negatively impact the doctor-patient-relationship. This is the first study that uses natural language processing (NLP) as well as traditional rating scales to assess the improvement of international students' communication skills after attending a communication training seminar.

N = forty-two international students participated in the study, which followed a pre-post-design. Diagnostic interviews with standardized patients (SP) were videotaped before and after the three-day training seminar, which was comprised of short lectures and communication trainings with SPs regarding the topic of psychosomatic medicine. Transcripts of diagnostic interviews were analyzed with NLP. Videotaped clinical encounters were assessed by three raters with binary and global rating instruments. For the comparison between pre- and post-assessment of all NLP communication parameters and rating results, two-way ANOVAs and Wilcoxon tests were calculated, respectively.

NLP communication parameter results showed a decrease in talk-turns, interruptions, number of questions and talking over, and an increase in talk-turn-length in post-assessment compared to pre-assessment. There were no significant pre-post changes observed in binary checklist results. Significant pre-post changes were observed in global rating score and ratings from global rating domains 'interview structure' and 'verbal expression'.

International students significantly improved their communication style in psychosomatic medicine towards a more patient-centered approach. Changes in NLP communication parameters and improved interview style and verbal expression suggest that international students may have listened to patients more carefully. Furthermore, NLP has shown to be a viable tool to evaluate communication parameters in a doctor-patient-relationship and assess the effectiveness of communication training for international students.