The effects of two short-term interpersonal skills training approaches on the verbal behavior of student speech-language pathologists were evaluated during peer interviews. Students who had participated in an experiential program in which they practiced specific verbal skills used significantly more verbal behaviors thought to facilitate a helping relationship than did students whose training had consisted of observing and analyzing these verbal skills in clinical interactions. Comparisons with results of previous research suggest that length of training may be a crucial variable as students appear to need considerable time and practice to master the complex skills necessary for interpersonal effectiveness.
Interpersonal communication skills of 55 speech-language pathology students, who had participated in one of three 16-hour training programs, were assessed during a coached-client interview in which the students served as clinicians. No meaningful differences in verbal responses were found among groups. Less than 20% of all the students' responses were considered facilitative. A follow-up investigation of students' responses therapy sessions at the end of their first clinical practicum yielded no significant differences among groups. The nonverbal behaviors of all three groups were generally adequate and essentially similar. Findings indicating that students in other human services curricula demonstrated a greater frequency of facilitative responses following skill training, led to a study of the comparative pretraining skill levels of the two populations. The few significant differences found did not account for the wide differences in posttraining skill levels.
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