title: The effect of communication skills training on residents' physiological arousal in a breaking bad news simulated task.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Breaking bad news (BBN) is a complex task which involves dealing cognitively with different relevant dimensions and a challenging task which involves dealing with intense emotional contents. No study however has yet assessed in a randomized controlled trial design the effect of a communication skills training on residents' physiological arousal during a BBN task.
  
  
  METHODS
  Residents' physiological arousal was measured, in a randomized controlled trial design, by heart rate and salivary cortisol before, during and after a BBN simulated task.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-eight residents were included. MANOVA showed significant group-by-time effects. Trained residents' mean heart rate levels remained elevated after training and cortisol areas under the curve increased after training compared to untrained residents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Communication skills training has an effect on residents' physiological arousal. Residents' self-efficacy and communication skills improvements in a BBN simulated task are associated with an elevated physiological arousal, which becomes proportional to the complexity of the task and reflects a better engagement and performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Residents should be informed that, to perform a task, they need to engage in the task with a physiological arousal proportional to the complexity of this task. Communication skills training should be adapted.
authors.affiliation: Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meunier
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Merckaert
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Libert
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Delvaux
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Etienne
authors.forename: Aurore
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liénard
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bragard
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marchal
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reynaert
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Slachmuylder
authors.forename: Darius
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Razavi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001530:Belgium; D003142:Communication; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology; D016544:Patient Simulation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012463:Saliva / Q000502:physiology; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014342:Truth Disclosure
keywords: Breaking bad news; Cancer; Communication skills; Physiological arousal; Psychology; Training