ATTITUDE TOWARDS LEARNING COMMUNICATION SKILLS AMONG DENTAL INTERNS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objective: The primary objective was to assess the attitudes of dental interns in Kerala towards communication skills acquisition using the Dental Communication Skills Attitude Scale (DCSAS) questionnaire. The additional objective was to determine the association between age, gender, prior academic accomplishment, self-evaluation of communication abilities, and respondents’ attitudes towards developing them. Methods and materials: A structured proforma in Google Forms collected demographic data, and self-assessed communication skill levels of dental interns of Kerala. The validated DCSAS questionnaire to assess students’ perspectives and willingness to learn communication skills during their professional course. Results: The study participants had an average age of 22.94±0.93 years. In all four DCSAS sections, students’ mean attitude scores for developing communication skills were statistically significant for most factors. Age was strongly correlated with average positive and negative attitudes towards learning communication skills. Positive attitude was highest in first-class students. Students with moderate communication skills had the greatest mean positive attitude score. Students who identified as poor communicators had the highest mean total negative attitude score, whereas those who identified as good communicators had the lowest. Conclusion: The average positive attitude of dental interns towards communication skills development was related to gender, age, academic performance, and self-assessed communication ability. Higher self-assessment in communication skills, academic success, and older age were the main factors related to the study sample’s negative attitude.