The effects of communication skills training on pediatricians' and parents' communication during "sick child" visits. 2007

Nancy Grant Harrington, and Gretchen R Norling, and Florence M Witte, and Judith Taylor, and James E Andrews
Department of Communication, University of Kentucky, KY 40506-0042, USA. ngrant@uky.edu

This article reports the development and evaluation of a physician-parent communication skills training program designed to improve communication regarding antibiotic prescribing for children. Four pediatricians and 81 parents participated in the study, which involved audiotaping "sick child" office visits and then coding transcripts for evidence of program influence on information seeking, giving, and verifying, as well as relational communication. Parents who received training were more likely to verify information, t(79) = 1.82, p = .04, and more likely to express concerns, t(79) = 1.79, p = .04, than were parents who did not receive training; there was a nonsignificant trend for trained parents to be more likely to give information, t(79) = 1.7, p = .051. In terms of physician behavior, there were nonsignificant trends for physicians to spend more time creating a partnership with parents after training than before training, t(3) = 2.29, p = .053, and to encourage more questions from parents after training than before, t(3) = 2.15, p = .06. In addition, once one outlier parent in the control condition was removed from the analysis, the results showed that physicians spent more time addressing treatment options after training than before, t(3) = 2.9, p = .03. The results of this study are considered promising, with effects shown for various important elements of physician-parent communication. Implications of results and directions for future research are discussed.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D010372 Pediatrics A medical specialty concerned with maintaining health and providing medical care to children from birth to adolescence.
D011361 Professional Competence The capability to perform the duties of one's profession generally, or to perform a particular professional task, with skill of an acceptable quality. Competence, Professional,Generalization of Expertise,Technical Expertise,Expertise Generalization,Expertise, Technical
D011368 Professional-Family Relations The interactions between the professional person and the family. Professional Family Relationship,Family Relationship, Professional,Family Relationships, Professional,Professional Family Relations,Professional Family Relationships,Professional-Family Relation,Relation, Professional-Family,Relations, Professional-Family,Relationship, Professional Family,Relationships, Professional Family
D002648 Child A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL. Children
D002675 Child, Preschool A child between the ages of 2 and 5. Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D003142 Communication The exchange or transmission of ideas, attitudes, or beliefs between individuals or groups. Miscommunication,Misinformation,Social Communication,Communication Programs,Communications Personnel,Personal Communication,Communication Program,Communication, Personal,Communication, Social,Communications, Social,Miscommunications,Misinformations,Personnel, Communications,Program, Communication,Programs, Communication,Social Communications
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults

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