Identifying Factors to Establish Rapport with Simulated Clients in a Veterinary Medical Interview

Abstract

Students' behavior was evaluated by simulated clients during a medical interview training session conducted at a veterinary college. The evaluation was based on a 17-item questionnaire, with each item on a five-point scale regarding students' gender, opening, open and closed questions, closing, empathetic attitude, and an explanatory model regarding the student's attitude. The factors associated with gaining the trust of the simulated clients were investigated through these results. The following factors were observed to affect rapport in descending order : understanding of the interpretation model, empathy, closed questions, honorifics, summary, and greeting animals (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.48‐0.64). Multiple regression analysis in which rapport was designated as a response variable and students' other behaviors were entered as explanatory variables, revealed that factors such as honorifics, understanding of the interpretation model, closed questions, and appearance contributed to rapport. These results suggest that the improvement of the aforementioned factors is important for establishing rapport with clients. This training requires implementation in college education and veterinary practice in the future.