Abstract

COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION AND ITS EFFECT ON PHARMACY UNDERGRADUATES

Naira Nayeem*, Saifulla Khan, Shalini Kapoor Mehta

ABSTRACT

The main objective of the study was to analyze the communication apprehension (CA) among students studying in different levels of pharmacy and to find routes by which the student’s communication skills could be improved. To accomplish this, a questionnaire based survey was conducted using 130 students studying B Pharmacy. The questionnaire was prepared comprising of various aspects like communication, group discussion; presentations, meetings etc .Our results indicated a high level of CA among first year pharmacy students when compared to the other classes. Overall, it was seen that the students of senior classes were much more confident and had less communication apprehension. While gender wise it was observed that female students had a higher degree of CA when compared to their male counter parts. From the evaluation of the results it can be concluded that the factors contributing to the communication apprehension among the students are age, gender and the year of study. Measures can be taken to help students overcome their communication apprehension and develop their communication skills in an effective manner.

Keywords: Communication apprehension, pharmacy, undergraduates.