BACKGROUND: Social skills are frequently impaired in neurodevelopmental disorders and genetic conditions, including 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Although often assessed with questionnaires, direct assessment provides a more valid estimate of the constructs. Role-plays (i.e., simulates situational settings) therefore appear to be an appropriate indicator of social skills in daily life.
METHODS: This co-registered study involved 53 individuals with 22q11DS, 34 individuals with ASD, and 64 typically developing (TD) peers aged 12-30 years. All participants were assessed with role-plays as well as parent-reported questionnaires and clinical interviews focusing on social skills, functioning and anxiety.
RESULTS: Both clinical groups showed impaired social skills compared to TD, but distinct social profiles emerged between the groups. Individuals with 22q11DS displayed higher social appropriateness and clarity of speech but weaker general argumentation and negotiation skills, with the opposite pattern observed in participants with ASD. No association was found between social skills measured by direct observation and caregiver reports. Social anxiety, although higher in clinical groups than in TD, was not associated with role-plays.
CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the need to train social skills through tailored interventions to target the specific difficulties of each clinical population. It also highlights the importance of combining measures as they do not necessarily provide the same outcome.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the cognitive processes of English as second language (L2) learners that are involved in their task-based pragmatic performances in academic settings. This study, therefore, examined the cognitive processes of 30 English L2 learners when engaging in various role-play-based pragmatic performances, such as requesting a recommendation letter from a professor and negotiating an agreeable meeting time with classmates. The qualitative analyses of the retrospective verbal reports (RVRs) data of the participants indicated that the learners employed a series of cognitive, metacognitive, and pragmatic strategies when accomplishing various speech acts (e.g., requests and refusals). This study hoped to make two new contributions to the field. First, the study provided empirical evidence to validate the theoretical taxonomy of the strategy use of learners in L2 pragmatics. Additionally, the theoretical foundations of current research on cognitive processes are primarily informed by pragmatic theories. Thus, the study aims to explicate a more comprehensive view of the cognitive processes of L2 learners in pragmatic performances by employing the theories from both pragmatic and learner strategy perspectives.

Sexual violence is a significant public health concern in the United States, affecting as many as one in two women and one in four men. However, few medical schools offer education on trauma-informed communication with patients who disclose sexual assault (SA). The goal of this training was to provide medical students with an understanding of how to empathically respond to SA disclosures, collect pertinent medical information while avoiding retraumatization, and empower patients to feel in control of their care.
One hundred forty-nine second-year medical students at Rush Medical College attended a 1-hour didactic lecture discussing the needs of SA survivors followed by small-group sessions during which they practiced trauma-informed communication skills. Students completed anonymous pre- and postsession surveys featuring nine Likert-scale questions that assessed comfort level providing trauma-informed care.
Of the 149 attendees, 88 (59%) completed matched pre- and posttraining surveys that demonstrated significant improvement in all assessed metrics of trauma-informed care, including comfort collecting information, empowering survivors, and responding to and normalizing patients\' concerns. Two weeks after completing the training, all 149 students also correctly answered a free-response question testing retention of key training takeaways on their Sexuality and Reproduction final exam.
The training significantly improved medical student comfort in providing trauma-informed care across all collected metrics. The training can be feasibly reproduced at other institutions so that future physicians across specialties can provide trauma-informed care, ideally improving the acute and chronic health outcomes that disproportionately affect SA survivors.

Globally, health is regarded as a booming industry with greater stress being laid on high quality, accountability, and transparency. Traditional medical curricula rely primarily on clerkships during the clinical period of study to train clinical skills, while the preclinical period is mainly used to teach the basic sciences. In recent years, the early introduction of clinical skills training has received increased attention. This review aims to identify and summarize teaching approaches of clinical skills for medical students during preclinical years, namely, (1) framing objectives (2) learning activities, and (3) evaluation strategies. Although the clinical tutor\'s role is to ensure that students receive effective preclinical skills through different modes of learning (lectures, presentations, and problem-based learning), the role of advanced technologies, namely, simulation-based learning platforms and gamification are found to be very successful. To improve the communication skills, there is strong evidence in support of role plays, and similarly, for enhancing observation skills, an introduction of fine arts in clinical skills training was found to be very useful. Medical schools worldwide should give high priority to conduct faculty development programs on various aspects of training and teaching modalities, evaluation strategies, and improving the evaluation of various clinical skills. Students should be provided with sufficient learning opportunities including a well-equipped clinical skills laboratory and individual attention, and constructive feedback should be given to students for building their confidence level during their learning process.

OBJECTIVE: This randomized controlled trial evaluated whether training one of two social skills (\"being able to say no\" and \"being able to demand\") belonging to the domain \"asserting one\'s rights\" improves specifically the trained skill or the \"asserting one\'s rights\" domain in general.
METHODS: Ten social skills training groups comprising three weekly sessions and four healthy participants each were conducted. In each group, the participants were randomized either to the condition which practiced the social skill of \"saying no\" or to the condition which practiced the social skill of \"demanding\".
RESULTS: From pre-training to 3-month follow-up, participants of the \"demanding\" condition improved significantly on the \"being able to demand\" scale of the \"Short Version of the Insecurity Questionnaire\" (p = 0.047) but not on the \"incapacity in saying no\" scale of the \"Short Version of the Insecurity Questionnaire\" (p = 0.645), whereas participants of the \"saying no\" condition improved significantly on the \"incapacity in saying no\" scale of the \"Short Version of the Insecurity Questionnaire\" (p = 0.015) but not on the \"being able to demand\" scale of the \"Short Version of the Insecurity Questionnaire\" (p = 0.484).
CONCLUSIONS: Further studies are needed to evaluate whether the results of the present study can be generalized to clinical samples.
CONCLUSIONS: This trial provides very preliminary evidence that training a specific social skill has specific, not generalized, effects.

BACKGROUND: Communication skills are critical in hospice care but challenging to teach. Therefore, a hospice agency developed a communication skills laboratory for nurses and social workers.
METHODS: Learners role-played 3 common hospice scenarios. The role-play modalities were in-person, Second Life, and telephone. Learners were scored on 4 communication aspects.
RESULTS: Learners in all modalities rated the laboratory as very effective. However, learners in the Second Life and phone modality showed greater improvements from scene 1 to 3 than those in the in-person modality. There were no significant differences in improvement between the Second Life and phone modalities.
CONCLUSIONS: Results support the effectiveness of this communication skills laboratory while using different teaching modalities and show phone and Second Life role-plays were more effective than an in-person role-play.