title: A comparison of students' self-assessments with faculty evaluations of their communication skills.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare students' self-assessment of their communication skills with faculty members' formal evaluation of their skills in a therapeutics course.
  
  
  METHODS
  Over a 3-year period, faculty members evaluated second-year pharmacy students' communication skills as part of a requirement in a therapeutics course. Immediately following an individual oral assessment and again following a group oral assessment, students self-assessed their communication skills using the same rubric the faculty members had used. Students' self-assessments were then compared with faculty members' evaluation of students' communication skills.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four hundred one (97.3%) students consented to participate in this study. Faculty evaluation scores of students for both the individual and group oral assessments were significantly higher than students' self-assessment scores. Students' self-assessment scores of their communication skills increased from the individual to the group oral assessment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Students' self-assessments of communication skills were consistently lower than faculty members' evaluations. Greater use of oral assessments throughout the pharmacy curriculum may help to improve students' confidence in and self-assessment of their communication skills.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Mercer University, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA. Lundquist_LM@mercer.edu
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Lundquist
authors.forename: Angela O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Shogbon
authors.forename: Kathryn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Momary
authors.forename: Hannah K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Rogers
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D003479:Curriculum; D004512:Education, Pharmacy; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012580:Schools, Pharmacy; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013339:Students, Pharmacy / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: communication skills; oral assessment; pharmacy students; self-assessment; therapeutics