Enhancing self-regulated learning: a comparison of medical students’ self-assessment and faculty evaluations on communication skills in simulated patient interviews

Self-assessment enables medical students to gain an in-depth understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses, as part of their self-regulated learning which is an important factor for lifelong learning, and to set personal development. The aim of this study was to compare first year medical students’ self-evaluation of their performance in interviewing a simulated patient within the scope of communication skills training with the evaluation of trainers to give feedback as part of the training. This study was a cross-sectional analytical study and included all first-year students of Istanbul Medipol University Faculty of Medicine. Two separate evaluation forms were prepared for educators and students by adapting already used ones. Students and educators completed the online version of the forms after the simulated patient interview. Descriptive statistics, Cohen’s Kappa coefficient to measure inter-rater reliability, correlation analysis and dependent sample t test were used to measure the agreement in Likert scale questions. All first-year students in charge of the course, 193 students in total, participated in the study. Of the students participating in the study, 64.8% were female and 35.2% were male. In two-category questions, moderate agreement was observed in five questions and good agreement in two questions. No difference was observed between trainers and students in the overall global 10-point rating scale. In Likert-type questions, a moderate difference was observed between trainers and students in some questions. The self-assessment of male students was statistically higher than that of female students (p < 0.05). First-year medical students generally aligned with faculty evaluations in their overall communication skills, they tended to rate themselves more positively in certain sub-skills. Notably, male students demonstrated a more positive self-assessment compared to their female counterparts, whereas female students tended to assess themselves more realistically These results highlight the need for a more structured approach to self-evaluation in medical education, ensuring that all students develop accurate self-perception and receive targeted support to enhance their communication competencies.