Empathic Communication Skills Across Applied Undergraduate Psychology Courses: A Replication Study

Background: Although undergraduate psychology curriculum should cultivate performance-based skills to prepare students for helping professions, little work to date has addressed this standard. Objective: This research replicates the methods used in a previous study by examining pre-post changes in empathic communication skills and perceived communication competence across two applied psychology courses: Basic Helping Skills and Internship. This study extended this work by also exploring learning gains from different formats (i.e., face-to-face vs. online), internship types (mental health-related vs. not mental health-related), and the longevity of learning gains. Method: Psychology students ( N = 171) completed a measure of communication competence and provided written empathic responses on a vignette-based performance measure at the start and end of the semester. Results: Students perceived their communication skills as improving over time; however, only students in the Basic Helping Skills course showed improved empathic communication skills, especially when the instruction was in a face-to-face format. Students with previous skill training maintained their learning gains over time. Conclusion: Student empathic communication improves most with face-to-face instruction in Basic Helping Skills rather than an internship experience. Teaching Implications: For the development of empathic communication skills, prerequisite requirements for Internship and instructive scaffolding for the application of skills may be recommended.

 Intentionality in Human Services

This article describes the concept of intentionality and how it relates to human services education and training. The focus is on how the incorporation of intentionality into human services training curriculum can enhance the knowledge, skill, and competence of trainees. Several examples are given to show how human service educators can integrate activities within a basic helping skills course.

Teacher and pedagogue skills in working with a sexually abused child

The article deals with the issue of helping skills that a teacher and pedagogue should have when working with a sexually abused child. The theoretical part of the article defines helping skills essential for the process of understanding a child's difficult situation and their basic types were described. The subject of the research was the helping skills of a teacher and pedagogue in working with people who experienced sexual violence. The purpose of the study was to determine and describe the professional skills of a teacher and pedagogue ‒ strengthening the storytelling by the child and calming the emotions accompanying the story. The study used the narrative method with the use of content analysis. The research problem took the form of the question: What are the components of a teacher and pedagogue skills in helping a sexually abused child? The research was conducted in 2019 among 23 postgraduate students preparing for counselling work. The obtained research results allowed for the selection of subcategories within the studied categories that visualize the specificity and value of the helping skills described by the respondents, and for the identification of components that determine effective help and support by teachers and pedagogues for a child experiencing sexual violence. In addition, the conclusions from the research are valuable for pedagogical practice, especially in the field of enriching the educational offer for the teaching and pedagogical profession with regard to activities supporting people experiencing violence.

Graduate students share their experiences of building helping skills: A case study

Higher education needs individuals working with students to have the skills to handle a variety of issues related to success and well-being. Graduate programs preparing higher education professionals to work with students provide the opportunity for skill-building to occur. However, how do graduate students perceive their skill development in courses offered in a graduate program, specifically related to basic helping skills? This study, conducted in a College of Education at a university located in the southern United States posed two questions to find out more about the attributes graduate students contribute in the development of their knowledge of helping skills, and documenting the lived experiences of graduate students practicing helping skills. Five graduate students enrolled in a new course on helping skills were part of this case study. Three themes emerged after collecting and coding data during the course. The three themes were: building helping skills, confidence and comfortability, and multicultural, diversity and inclusion. The discussion section includes recommendations to always offer a helping skills course in graduation programs preparing individuals to work in higher education, any course on helping skills should have a multicultural focus, and the course curriculum should include a mix of clinical and practical elements.