2022 Volume 37 Issue 1 Pages 88-100
Study objective: Examination of effects of a training program for new estheticians intended to improve customer-service skills. Design: An intergroup multiple baseline design, with interventions in different periods for each of 2 groups. Setting: Group training was conducted in the training room of a beauty-treatment clinic; individual coaching, using social media. Participants: Estheticians (N=12, mean age=22.7 years, SD=1.42) working at an esthetic salon. Intervention: Group social skills training (SST) and individual coaching using social media. The group training was conducted once every 2 weeks, for a total of 5 times. For the individual coaching, the participants were required to submit a self-record sheet on workdays, using social media. The instructors praised the participants when their reported self-assessment of the target behavior was high. When a self-assessment was low, the instructors asked about the conditions, and instructed the participant on points to be improved. Target skills: (a) Interacting behaviors and (b) listening skills. Role-playing scenes were video-recorded before the intervention and during the intervention and follow-up periods, using a counseling sheet. The targeted behaviors were assessed based on video recordings. Results: All participants acquired customer-service skills following the interventions. Moreover, a significant correlation was shown between the percentage of self-record sheets filled out and the rate of change in the listening skills scores. Conclusion: Group training with individual coaching using remote communication tools such as social media is likely to be useful for improving customer service skills of estheticians in a short period.
