Are professionals more client-centred than students in the communicative interaction skills with patients?

Introduction: scientific literature underline the importance of client-centred approach in medicine; recent research of medical students show a decrease in empathy after introduction into clinical practice. Aim: explore differences in the communicative interaction skills between experienced occupational therapists and occupational therapy students in clinical settings. Methods: 15 second year occupational therapy students; 15 last-year undergraduate students; 15 experienced occupational therapists were videotaped in 3 role-plays with patient-actors. The Roter Interaction Analysis System was used for analysis. Results: preliminary results based on 28 role-plays (14 non experienced students / 14 occupational therapists) show a significant difference of the communicative structure in the emotional macrocategory (t=2.401; p=0.024), with a decrease in the professional group (inter-rater reliability r>0.83). Conclusions: preliminary results show that non experienced occupational therapy students are highlighting emotional aspects in the encounter with the patients compared to the professionals. The oral presentation will analyze complete results of 90 role-plays.