ABSTRACT
[Objective]In recent years, communication skills have been recognized as an essential competence for acupuncturists. This study proposes to develop a scale for measuring the medical communication skills of acupuncturists.<BR>[Materials and Methods]A questionnaire of 20 items was used to measure medical communication skills. These items were adopted from a concept analysis conducted in a previous study.<BR>Cronbach's alpha was used to examine the scale's reliability. The scale's validity was examined by correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis comparisons with normal communication skills subscale scores (ENDCOREs, Encode, Decode, Control, Regulate) and a Japanese version of characteristic trait anxiety scores (STAI, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory).<BR>[Results]Factor analysis, using a principal extraction method and promax rotation, was conducted on responses from 443students and therapists. As a result, the original 20 items were reduced to 16, and the following three factors were extracted:I. Acceptance of patients and self-control;II. Appropriate explanation to patients;and III. Understanding of patient's feelings. These three factors had high degrees of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha =.872 -.892).<BR>The scores of the three factors correlated significantly with the scores of the six factors of ENDCORE, and with the anxiety scores. Although the results of multiple regression analysis showed that each factor of ENDCORE explained the three factors, the anxiety scores did not influence medical communication skills. The scores for the three factors correlated significantly with self-evaluation scores of medical interview skill. In addition, these three factors were affected by the degree of clinical experience.<BR>[Conclusion]These results suggest that this scale may be a reliable instrument for assessing medical communication skills among Japanese acupuncturists.