Developing the Future Health Workforce: Understanding the Relationship between Interpersonal Skills and Academic Outcomes among Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Research purpose: Due to the increasing need for effective teamwork and collaborations in health organisations, it has become crucial for health workers to have strong interpersonal skills. In the light of the above, this study aims at contributing to the future health workforce by investigating the impact of interpersonal skills on academic outcome among final year undergraduate medical students of the University of Benin, Benin city.  

Methodology: To achieve its aim, the study employed a survey design that allowed the usage of a structured questionnaire to draw data from 100 final year undergraduate medical students of the University of Benin, Benin city. Using the 4-point Likert scale questionnaire ranging from strongly agreed to strongly disagreed, data. For analysis, the study employed linear regression to determine the effect of interpersonal skills on academic outcome. 

Findings: With a p-value of .016 at a 5% significance level, the findings of the study indicate a positive significant relationship between interpersonal skills and academic outcome. 

Recommendations: Based on the study findings, the recommendations are that medical students should engage in more informal academic and extra academic activities such as academic class discussion groups and sports so as to have more interactions with other students and potentially build strong interpersonal skills. University authorities are also advised to make and implement policies focused on providing and improving campus securities, infrastructures and counselling services to medical students. This will provide a safe environment for more interactions among students.