Development of a self-assessment tool for resident doctors’ communication skills in India

Abstract

Purpose: Effective communication skills are essential for resident doctors to provide optimum patient care. This study was conducted to develop and validate a questionnaire for the self-assessment of resident doctors’ communication skills in India.

Methods: This was a mixed-methods study conducted in 2 phases. The first phase consisted of questionnaire development, including the identification of relevant literature, focus group discussions with residents and experts from clinical specialties, and pre-testing of the questionnaire. The second phase involved administering the questionnaire survey to 95 residents from the Departments of Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, and Surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India in April 2019. Internal consistency was tested and the factor structure was analyzed to test construct validity.

Results: The questionnaire consisted of 3 sections: (A) 4 items on doctor-patient conflicts and the role of communication skills in avoiding these conflicts, (B) 29 items on self-assessment of communication skills in different settings, and (C) 8 items on barriers to practicing good communication skills. Sections B and C had good internal consistency (Cronbach α: 0.885 and 0.771, respectively). Section C had a 2-factor solution, and the barriers were classified as ‘training’ and ‘infrastructure’ factors.

Conclusion: This appears to be a valid assessment tool of resident doctors’ communication skills, with potential utility for identifying gaps in communication skills and developing communication skills modules.

Keywords: Physician-patient relations; Self-assessment; India; Patient care.