Relationship of facilitative training on the development of rapport

Nurses have always been told, "you must have rapport with your patient," yet the characteristics of and the process for developing rapport remained undefined in the nursing literature. Rapport is one of the many concepts in nursing that has an assumed meaning and is identified as an intuitive skill, yet greatly affects patient outcomes such as compliance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a facilitative training seminar on the development of rapport. The study utilized an experimental pre and posttest design.

Nurses and clients who volunteered to participate in the study were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The population consisted of 40 licensed practical or registered nurses and 40 clients from long term care units. Six hypotheses were formulated for the study with the.05 criterion level for significance being utilized. Nurses completed a demographic data sheet. Only nurses in the experimental group attended a six hour facilitative training seminar.

Mosley's Communication Skills Questionnaire, Mosley's Interpersonal Rapport Perception Questionnaire, and Mosley's Behavioral Rapport Scale were used as pre and posttest to assess the presence of rapport. Clients completed a demographic data sheet. Mosley's Interpersonal Rapport Perception Questionnaire was completed as pre and posttest by the client.

Data were analyzed using the multivariate analysis of variance and Duncan's post hoc comparison test. Analysis of the data suggested that there was a significant relationship between the taking of the facilitative training program and the identification of rapport by patients cared for by those nurses taking the seminar. Also, nurses participating in the classes demonstrated improved knowledge of the skills needed to develop rapport; perceived that they had more rapport and exhibited more behaviors indicative of rapport than those nurses not taking the classes.