The Effectiveness of Microtraining in Developing Pharmacists Communication Skills: A study of personality and attitudes

Abstract

This paper examines the effectiveness of a microtraining programme in developing the communication skills of pharmacists. In particular, it investigates the influence of this programme upon self-reported communication activities in the actual work environment. Inter-relationships are also obtained between the personality of participants, their attitude to the microtraining technique and the degree of self reported influence on work performance. Overall, participants demonstrated a strongly positive attitude to, and indicated that they had been highly influenced by, the microtraining programme. It was also found that there was a significant and positive correlation between extroversion and attitude to microtraining (p < 0.005). Furthermore, a positive correlation was also obtained between attitude and influence although this did not reach the 0.5 level of significance. It is concluded that microtraining is a promising technique for developing the communicative competence of pharmacists, but may need to be modified to cater for personality differences within trainees.