Assessment of a brief interviewing course using the helping relationship inventory: an interviewing course assessment

A brief second year interviewing course consisting of 9 hours of small group meetings was evaluated by administering the Helping Relationship Inventory (HRI). Other studies have used the HRI to assess longer interviewing courses that included both small groups and large class lectures. The purpose of this study was to use the HRI to see if objective improvement in communication skills could be found in this relatively brief interviewing course. One hundred and nine students, representing an 80% return rate, completed all questions on the HRI pre- and post-tests. Analysis of pre- and post-test data showed that students became significantly more understanding (p less than 0.0001) and significantly less 'supportive' or pacifying (p less than 0.0001) by the end of the course. There were no differences found on pre- and post-test HRI scores comparing males (n = 71) and females (n = 38). This study demonstrates that even brief small group interviewing courses can effect a positive change in students' communication skills.