Do Medical Students Like Communication? Validation of the German CSAS (Communication Skills Attitude Scale)

Overview

Journal GMS Z Med Ausbild

Specialty Medical Education

Date 2015 Feb 21

PMID 25699103

Citations 18

Authors

Anne-Kathrin Busch

Katrin Rockenbauch

Gabriele Schmutzer

Elmar Brahler

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: Attitudes towards communication skills of medical undergraduates can be gathered using the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS). We aimed to develop a German version of the CSAS (CSAS-G) in order to explore attitudes towards communication skills in a German cohort. Additionally the potential influence of demographic factors was examined.

Methods: We realized the CSAS-G and conducted a survey with 529 participants from 3 different years of study. We then carried out an explorative as well as confirmatory factor analysis and compared the attitudinal scores. Multiple regression analysis was performed.

Results: The confirmatory analysis confirmed the two-subscale system revealed by the explorative factor analysis. Students indicate low levels of negative attitudes and moderate levels of positive attitudes. Attitudinal scores differ significantly in relation to gender.

Conclusion: The CSAS-G can be used in German cohorts to evaluate attitudes towards communication skills. Medical students in our study show basically a positive approach. Further investigation is necessary to explore and understand attitudes towards communication skills of German medical students.

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