Sixty-seven third-year dental students in Dunedin, New Zealand, participated in a communication skills course, using simulated patients, case-based scenarios, videotaped interviews, and class roleplays. The course introduced active listening techniques, taking a medical history, and emotion-handling skills. This course was adapted from an existing course for medical students run by the Department of Psychological Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine. The results of the student evaluation questionnaire (n = 59) indicated that students rated the course very highly. Retrospective ratings indicated that the students considered communication skills to be significantly more important as a component of their undergraduate training after completion of the course than prior to it. As might be expected, students whose ratings were higher after the course also reported that the course helped them to develop new communication skills and techniques; increased their interest in the subject and their self-confidence; rated the tutor as more effective and the course materials as more helpful; and considered the course to be significantly more stimulating than those students whose ratings of the importance of communication skills remained the same or decreased.Dr. Hannah is Lecturer,

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One hundred and sixteen third-year dental students participating in a consultation skills course in Dunedin, New Zealand, completed a standardized psychometric Social Skills Inventory (SSI) and were assessed by tutors, simulated patients, and themselves. Students with higher social skills abilities obtained higher performance scores and demonstrated better interview structure. Patients reported being more likely to return to students for a dental consultation following the second interview, and students' consultation skills were rated (by tutors, patients, and students) higher at the end of the course than the beginning. Female students had higher global social skills abilities and were more emotionally expressive and sensitive than male students, while the latter had better emotional control. Female students performed better in the first interview than male students, but there was no significant gender difference in the second interview. Tutor and simulated patient ratings suggested that a consultation skills course can increase the ability of students in general, and English as a second language students in particular, to relate to their patients, manage anxiety, identify ethical issues, and recognize significant psychosocial issues that lead to more accurate diagnosis and treatment processes, ensuring the effective delivery of patient-centered dental education. Dr. Hannah is Convenor

Education on alcohol and drugs for students remains a crucial but under provided part of the undergraduate medical curriculum. This research demonstrated that while positive teaching outcomes were apparent, further changes to medical student curricula need to be considered to address specific knowledge deficits and to increase the therapeutic commitment and professional safety of medical students to alcohol and drugs.

Because gender and speech style co-vary, effects that have been attributed to speakers’ gender-based status might in fact be consequences of how people respond to particular styles of speech. To examine the relative impact of gender and speech style on conversants’ speech behavior, female and male confederates were trained to employ a facilitative or a nonfacilitative style of speech in interactions with young adults. Analyses of participants’ conversations with confederates showed that confederate speech style, rather than confederate gender, was a more reliable predictor of participants’ speech behavior. In conjunction with analyses of participant accommodation to confederate speech, the results revealed subtle differences in how women and men responded to the behavior of confederates.