Interviewing skills: self-evaluation by medical students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychosocial Skills Training

Background:

• Structured self-assessment is crucial for developing clinical competencies.
• Previous feedback mechanisms included client, peer, and tutor input.
• Videotape playback facilitated detailed review of interview behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the validity of self-assessment in medical students' psychosocial interviewing skills.
• To compare student self-ratings with independent observer ratings.
• To identify areas for improvement in self-assessment methods.

Main Methods:

• Third-year medical students (n=52) self-assessed videotaped psychosocial interviews.
• Students tallied behaviors, evaluated quality, and set learning priorities.
• An independent observer also rated the interview videotapes.

Main Results:

• Student self-assessments showed a moderate correlation (0.46) with independent observer ratings.
• This validity correlation exceeds typical findings in self-assessment studies.
• Students rated their performance significantly lower (3.2) than the observer (3.6).

Conclusions:

• Self-assessment of psychosocial interviewing skills demonstrates reasonable validity in medical education.
• Findings support existing recommendations for enhancing self-assessment accuracy.
• Suggestions for improvement include paired comparisons and low-threat learning environments.