PMID- 22184601
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20120224
LR  - 20211203
IS  - 1930-7837 (Electronic)
IS  - 0022-0337 (Linking)
VI  - 75
IP  - 12
DP  - 2011 Dec
TI  - University of Malaya dental students' attitudes towards communication skills 
      learning: implications for dental education.
PG  - 1611-9
AB  - The Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia has called for the implementation of 
      a soft skills module in all public universities in Malaysia. In response to this 
      and as part of curriculum development efforts for a new integrated program for 
      2011, a study was undertaken to improve the University of Malaya (UM) Faculty of 
      Dentistry's communication skills course. One of the study objectives was to 
      investigate dental students' attitudes towards communication skills learning and 
      the association between their attitudes and demographic and education-related 
      characteristics. A cross-sectional survey--using a self-administered 
      twenty-four-item adapted Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) that 
      contained both positive (PAS) and negative (NAS) attitude subscales--was carried 
      out targeting all final-year dental students at the UM and the Universiti 
      Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). A total of 148 students completed the survey, yielding 
      a response rate of 88.1 percent. Overall, UKM students had significantly more 
      positive attitudes towards communication skills learning (PAS score: mean=48.69, 
      SD=4.48, p<0.001) than UM students (mean=46.03, SD=4.22). There was no 
      statistically significant difference in negative attitudes between the two 
      groups. UKM students with more positive attitudes tended to be female (p<0.05). 
      UM students with more negative attitudes perceived themselves as poor 
      communicators (p<0.05), and UKM students with more negative attitudes tended to 
      have poor English proficiency (p<0.05). This study found that both UM and UKM 
      final-year dental students have positive and negative attitudes towards learning 
      communication skills. These attitudes were significantly associated with certain 
      background and education-related attributes. Outcomes of this study served as a 
      valuable guide in strengthening the communication skills course for the UM's new, 
      integrated dental curriculum.
FAU - Nor, Nor Azlida M
AU  - Nor NA
AD  - Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Malaysia.
FAU - Yusof, Zamros Y M
AU  - Yusof ZY
FAU - Shahidan, Mohd Noor F M
AU  - Shahidan MN
LA  - eng
PT  - Comparative Study
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - J Dent Educ
JT  - Journal of dental education
JID - 8000150
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - *Attitude of Health Personnel
MH  - *Communication
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - Curriculum
MH  - *Education, Dental
MH  - Ethnicity
MH  - Feedback
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Language
MH  - *Learning
MH  - Malaysia
MH  - Male
MH  - Self Concept
MH  - Social Class
MH  - Students, Dental/*psychology
MH  - Young Adult
EDAT- 2011/12/21 06:00
MHDA- 2012/03/01 06:00
CRDT- 2011/12/21 06:00
PHST- 2011/12/21 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2011/12/21 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2012/03/01 06:00 [medline]
AID - 75/12/1611 [pii]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Dent Educ. 2011 Dec;75(12):1611-9.