Maintenance of the Effect of Training in Communication Skills: A Controlled Follow-Up Study of Level of Communicated Empathy

Correspondence to Per Nerdrum, Faculty of Economics, Public Administration, and Social Work, Oslo College, Tjernveien 12, 0957 Oslo, Norway Summary The long-term effectiveness of a communication skills coursewas tested in a controlled study of two matched groups of socialwork students. The program group participated in a 50-hour communicationskills training course in addition to ordinary concept training,while the control group participated in social work concepttraining only. In the follow-up period, the groups engaged insimilar field practice. Both groups were assessed with regardto level of communicated empathy both before and after the three-monthtraining, as well as at 18-month follow-up. At the end of thetraining period, the program group showed a significant increasein the level of communicated empathy, while the control groupdid not. The program group not only maintained, but slowly increased,its level of communicated empathy. The control group also showeda small increase after the training period, but the differencebetween the groups was maintained. The interaction of specificcommunication training and field practice after training inthe process of acquiring and maintaining increased levels ofcommunicated empathy is discussed.