Does teaching social and communicative competences influence dental students' attitudes towards learning communication skills? A comparison between two dental schools in Germany.

Introduction: Teaching social and communicative competences has become an important part of undergraduate dental education. The aim of this study was to explore the influence of a longitudinal curriculum, addressing social and communication skills, on dental students' attitudes towards learning these skills. Material and methods: Data on the attitudes towards learning communication skills were collected at two German universities and compared in a cross-sectional survey. 397 dental students were included, 175 students attended a longitudinal curriculum addressing social and communicative competences while 222 students did not. The dental students' attitude towards learning communication skills was measured by a German version of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS-D). Results: Dental students who participated in a longitudinal communication curriculum had significantly lower negative attitudes towards learning communication skills than students who did not attend such courses. Differences in positive attitudes could not be found. Significant interaction effects were found for the factors gender and section of study: female students in the clinical section of their study who participated in the longitudinal curriculum reported higher positive attitudes and lower negative attitudes compared to female students in the preclinical section of study. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that a longitudinal curriculum addressing communication skills can enhance positive and reduce negative attitudes towards learning communication skills. More longitudinal data is needed to explore to what extent gender affects development of communication skills and how students' attitudes towards learning communication change in the long run.

"May I help you?" - Evaluation of the new student service at the reception desk during the clinical courses at the Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology as a part of a longitudinal curriculum of social and communicative competences for dental students.

OBJECTIVES: Since 2009, the University of Cologne has been developing a longitudinal curriculum for teaching social and communicative skills to dental students (LSK-Dent) based on the recommendations of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE). As a part of this curriculum it was considered to develop a reception service in the undergraduate treatment courses of the Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology involving the organizational and administrative handling of the patients by the students. Students should gain an insight into everyday practice and the reception service should function as a learning environment for social und communicative competences. This article introduces the LSK-Dent project, the implementation of the reception service and presents initial evaluation results. METHODS: Patients (n=575) and students (n=53) filled out a questionnaire. Additionally, four semi-structured interviews with students were conducted. RESULTS: The reception service was successfully implemented and endorsed by the students. First indications suggest that the reception service was well received by students as a learning environment for social und communicative competences and viewed as an opportunity to gain an insight into everyday practice. CONCLUSION: The reception service is an innovative addition to the treatment courses and an example for transforming an already existing reality in a course into a new learning environment for students. To what extent the implementation of reflexive elements can increase the subjectively perceived additional benefit by students, has to be addressed in further studies.