How to assess communication skills? Development of the rating scale ComOn Check

Figures & data

Figure 1. Coding system items of the ComOn check rating scale

Table 1. Inter-rater reliability of rating scale items

	Inter-rater reliability
Item	Agreement (%)	ICC
F – Global rating	45	.744
A1 – Initiating a conversation	77	.758
A2 – Patient’s perception	46	.405
B1 – Setting an agenda	37	.569
B2 – Structure in subchapters	31	.525
C1 – Naming/understanding patient’s emotions	33	.641
C2 – Respecting/supporting/exploring patient’s emotions	48	.713
D – End of conversation	53	.701
E1 – Use of clear words	52	.821
E2 – Adequate non-verbal communication	63	.842
E3 – Pauses	52	.793
E4 – Offer to ask questions	71	.829
E5 – Check for understanding	49	.710

Table 2. Coding system, item-total correlations, and internal consistency of sub-scores

		Coding system		Item-total correlations	Internal consistency
Item/scale	N	Range	Mean (SD)	Pearson correlation coefficient	Cronbach’s α
F – Global rating	135	0–4	2.24 (1.19)	–	–
A1 – Initiating a conversation	135	0–4	2.11 (1.04)	0.15	–
A2 – Patient’s perception	135	0–4	2.91 (.87)	0.31*	–
B1 – Setting an agenda	135	0–4	2.53 (1.27)	0.62*	–
B2 – Structure in subchapters	135	0–4	2.21 (1.32)	0.78*	–
C1 – Naming/understanding patient’s emotions	135	0–4	2.24 (1.27)	0.68*	–
C2 – Respecting/supporting/exploring patient’s emotions	135	0–4	2.67 (1.45)	0.70*	–
D – End of conversation	130	0–4	2.00 (.98)	0.44*	–
E1 – Use of clear words	135	0–4	2.59 (1.31)	0.70*	–
E2 – Adequate non-verbal communication	135	0–4	3.10 (.90)	0.62*	–
E3 – Pauses	135	0–4	2.59 (1.31)	0.71*	–
E4 – Offer to ask questions	135	0–4	1.93 (.92)	0.53*	–
E5 – Check for understanding	135	0–4	2.45 (1.22)	0.64*	–
B – Structure of conversation	135	0–8	4.75 (2.44)	–	0.87
C – Patient’s emotions	135	0–8	4.91 (2.51)	–	0.82
E – Communication skills	135	3–20	12.66 (4.12)	–	0.77
Sum score (A1 – E5)	135	9–44	29.36 (8.17)	[1]	0.83

*p < 0.01.

Table 3. Correlations between the subscales B, C, and E and specific items A1, A2, and D.

		B	C	D	E	F
A1 – Initiating a conversation	Spearman’s ρ	−0.01	0.05	<0.01	<0.01	0.01
	p value	0.94	0.54	0.97	0.98	0.87
A2 – Patient’s perception	Spearman’s ρ		0.13	0.15	0.04	0.22
	p value		0.131	0.085	0.619	0.011
B – Structure of conversation	Spearman’s ρ			0.44**	0.30**	0.52**
	p value			<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
C – Patient’s emotions	Spearman’s ρ				0.35**	0.59**
	p value				<0.001	<0.001
D – End of conversation	Spearman’s ρ					0.28*
	p value					0.001
E – Communication skills
F – Global rating

*p < 0.01; **p < 0.001.

Simpson M, Buckman R, Stewart M, et al. Doctor-patient communication: the Toronto consensus statement. BMJ. 1991;303(6814):1385–10.

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar