Effectiveness of communication skills training for dental students.

27 1st-yr dental students participated in a 3-day communication-skills training, and 39 nonparticipating 1st-yr dental students served as controls, to investigate the short-term effects of the training on participating Ss' communication skills. The general objective of the training was to advance Ss' communication skills and to prepare them for their 1st oral hygiene instruction and oral prophylaxis on patients. To assess the effect of the training, a videotape of 28 fragments was shown shortly after the training course. Each fragment represented a dentist-patient interaction and ended with a statement by the patient. All Ss were allowed 40 sec to write down their reactions to each fragment assuming they were in the position of the dentist. Results show that Ss who attended the communication-skills training significantly more often explored and recapitulated patients' statements than controls. However, reasons to doubt the validity of the present findings are discussed.