Effectiveness of a training on the recognition of subtle facial emotions in health and social workers

Purpose. This study analyzed the effectiveness of a training course on the recognition of subtle facial emotions in health and social workers, especially those who work in contact with difficult and aggressive patients in psychiatric wards and emergency departments. Methods. A total of 177 health and social workers were involved in the training course (138 females and 39 men, mean age was 53.3 years). The training was implemented in three different editions of the course (a three day course each) on the prevention and management of violence and the learning achieved has been evaluated in each edition. During the second and third day of training, 14 photographs from the Ekman SETT Test, representing the seven universal emotions (anger, fear, sadness, disgust, contempt, surprise, happiness), were administered to all participants. Participants selected the emotion demonstrated in each photograph on a response sheet. Differences in the answers between these two days were tested. Results. The participants in the three editions showed a statistically significant improvement in the subtle facial emotion expressions recognition ability. Female health and social workers recognized significantly better facial emotion expressions than their colleagues (difference in the two days for the emotions=0,205; p=0.006). Considering the professional qualifications, physicians have shown less ability in recognizing facial expression of anger, compared to nurses and other health and social workers (difference in the scores for anger of the third and the second day=0.213; p=0.024). Discussion and conclusions. The study showed that the ability to recognize subtle facial expressions of emotions can be trained. The skills acquired during the training can be used to enhance communication with patients, especially with difficult and aggressive ones and their family members in emergency and psychiatric settings. The course on prevention and management of violence should possibly include training on the recognition of subtle facial emotions.