Effects of Brief Communication Skills Training for Workers Based on the Principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE:Stimulating communication is an important workplace issue. We investigated the effects of a brief communication skills training (CST) program based on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). METHODS:A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 206 white-collar workers. The intervention group underwent a 2-hour CST group training conducted by an occupational physician. RESULT:The results of the intention-to-treat analysis using a mixed-effects model showed that there was a significant interaction between group and time observed for the item "thinking together to solve problems and issues" (P = 0.02). The effect size (Cohen d) was 0.35 (95% confidence interval, 0.07 to 0.62). CONCLUSIONS:The present study suggests that a brief CST based on the principles of CBT could improve the communication behavior of workers.