Attitude of Dental Students of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences towards the Doctor-Patient Communication Skills Course

Establishment of effective communication between the clinician and patient is essential in order to increase patients' satisfaction and achieve better treatment outcomes. These skills have been less investigated among dental students. The current study assessed the attitude of 5th semester dental students towards communication skills learning at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Iran during 2017-2018. Methods In this quasi-experimental study, 40 dental students filled out the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) with three domains of needs, operation, and application as self-declaration at two time point points before and after passing the course of “dentist-patient communication skills. Data were analyzed using paired t-test, independent t-test, and Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results A significant positive change occurred in students' attitude in general (P<0.001). An improvement in their attitude was observed in domains of needs (P<0.001), operation (P=0.002), and application (P<0.001) after passing the course in comparison with baseline. After passing the course, male students showed a significant positive attitude in domains of needs (P<0.001), operation (P=0.011), and application (P<0.003). But the only positive change in female students' attitude was observed in the domain of application (P=0.004). The positive attitude change in males was significantly higher than that in females in all domains (P=0.023). A significant positive change was observed in the attitude of 21-year-old students in comparison with other age groups (P=0.002). Conclusion The results showed positive change in both male and female students' attitude after passing the academic course of dentist-patient communication skills.