Assessment of a brief interviewing course using the helping relationship inventory: an interviewing course assessment

Abstract

A brief second year interviewing course consisting of 9 hours of small group meetings was evaluated by administering the Helping Relationship Inventoy (HRI). Other studies have used the HRI to assess longer interviewing courses that included both small groups and large class lectures. The purpose of this study was to use the HRI to see if objective improvement in communication skills could be found in this relatively brief interviewing course. One hundred and nine students, representing an 80% return rate, completed all questions on the HRI pre-and post-tests. Analysis of pre-and post-test data showed that students became significantly more understanding (p < 0.0001) and significantly less ‘supportive’ or pacihing (p < 0.001) by the end of the course. There were no difloences found on pre-and post-test HRI scores comparing males (n = 71) and females (n = 38). This study demonstrates that even brief small group interviewing courses can eflect a positive change in students' communication skills.