Importance and satisfaction attributed to communication skills by university teachers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25758/set.884Keywords:
Communication skills, Importance, Satisfaction, University teachers, AgeAbstract
The Bologna Process emphasizes university students’ communication skills, namely in the Health field. Teachers’ conceptions tend to vary with age and are important in the development of students’ conceptions. Aims – To analyse the importance and satisfaction that university teachers attribute to several communication skills and their relation with age. Methodology – A total of 79 university teachers, between 29 and 82 years of age (M=41.89; SD=9.99), mainly women (69.6%), answered a Sociodemographic Questionnaire and the Importance (IS) and Satisfaction Scales (SS) of the Communication Skills Questionnaire (QCC). Results – Between one and four of the participants attributed 11 of the 26 items of the IS and to 7 of the 26 items of the SS to the minimum score possible. There was also at least one participant that attributed the maximum score possible to all items of the IS (between eight and 51 participants) and of the SS (between six and 46 participants). The skill “thank” was considered the most important and satisfactory. Age was not statistically correlated with the items from the IS. There were linear statistically significant correlations between age and: “answer questions” (r(78)=.27, p£.02) and “ask for feedback in social interaction” (r(78)=.30, p£.008) from the SS. Since key skills for health professionals (e.g., “disagree”, “refuse requests”, “make requests”, and “paraphrase”) had scores that suggest low importance, it is considered important to change the importance perception of university teachers that does not seem to change with age. Important skills for the teachers’ work (e.g., “refuse requests”, “ask for a change in behaviour”) had some of the lowest satisfaction means, suggesting a need for training.
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