Background:

Although undergraduate psychology curriculum should cultivate performance-based skills to prepare students for helping professions, little work to date has addressed this standard.

Objective:

This research replicates the methods used in a previous study by examining pre-post changes in empathic communication skills and perceived communication competence across two applied psychology courses: Basic Helping Skills and Internship. This study extended this work by also exploring learning gains from different formats (i.e., face-to-face vs. online), internship types (mental health-related vs. not mental health-related), and the longevity of learning gains.

Method:

Psychology students (N = 171) completed a measure of communication competence and provided written empathic responses on a vignette-based performance measure at the start and end of the semester.

Results:

Students perceived their communication skills as improving over time; however, only students in the Basic Helping Skills course showed improved empathic communication skills, especially when the instruction was in a face-to-face format. Students with previous skill training maintained their learning gains over time.

Conclusion:

Student empathic communication improves most with face-to-face instruction in Basic Helping Skills rather than an internship experience.

Teaching Implications:

For the development of empathic communication skills, prerequisite requirements for Internship and instructive scaffolding for the application of skills may be recommended.

中文翻译：

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应用型本科心理学课程中的共情交流技巧：一项复制研究

背景：

尽管本科心理学课程应培养基于绩效的技能，以使学生为职业发展做准备，但迄今为止，针对该标准的工作还很少。

客观的：

这项研究通过检查两种应用心理学课程（基本帮助技能和实习）的移情交流技巧和感知的交流能力在岗前的变化，从而复制了先前研究中使用的方法。这项研究还通过探索不同形式（即面对面还是在线）的学习成果，实习类型（与心理健康有关而不是与心理健康有关），以及学习成果的寿命来扩展这项工作。

方法：

心理学学生（N = 171）完成了沟通能力的测评，并在学期开始和结束时就基于小插图的表现测验提供了书面的共情反应。

结果：

学生认为他们的沟通能力随着时间的推移而提高；但是，只有“基本帮助技能”课程的学生表现出提高的共情交流能力，尤其是当授课方式是面对面时。经过先前技能培训的学生会随着时间的推移保持学习成果。

结论：

通过基本帮助技能的面对面指导而不是实习经验，学生的共情交流可以最大程度地提高。

教学意义：

为了发展共情沟通技巧，可能建议实习和应用这些技巧的指导性支架的先决条件。