The purposes of this investigation were (1) to determine if a systematic training program in communication skills could be used to improve written response levels of dental hygiene students, and (2) to determine if a systematic training program in communication skills could yield improved dental hygiene student-patient rapport. The experiment involved two groups of dental hygiene students that had previously been randomly selected and consisted of twelve junior and twelve senior students in each group. The entire population of dental hygiene students at Texas Woman's University participated in the study. Analysis of the data provided statistically significant findings on seven of the eight hypotheses. Those subjects in the systematic training program were able to demonstrate increased ability to write responses and, in addition, had higher patient rapport scores. The results were also statistically significant two weeks following the training period. It was, therefore, concluded that the systematic training program in communication skills was an effective teaching device for improving dental hygiene responses. The systematic training program also seemed to be an effective strategy for improving dental hygiene student-patient rapport formation.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of the evaluation of the effectiveness of the EPIC model as a guide to group counseling. The purposes of this study are to determine (1) whether group counseling using the EPIC model would result in positive gain in counsele's locus of control, (2) whether there would be a differential effect of group counseling using the EPIC model as compared with a traditional group counseling model or a control group. This report concludes that the EPIC model as a guide to group counseling is an effective means of increasing reliance on inner support, emotional stability and objectivity. The EPIC model also produces changes in assessed congruence of the various factors in the actual vs. ideal aspect of inter-intrapersonal functioning. The EPIC model facilitated the growth of internal locus of control.