Modality use in the communication of health trainees and potential implications on patients the case of College of Health Kintampo

Abstract

Health workers deliver care to sick people who are afflicted with pain due to deteriorating conditions. Hence, health professionals cannot downplay the effect of using English language structures that directly affect moods, emotions and conditions of patients. This study, based on the theory of integrative emotional communication, aims at investigating modality use by health trainees at College of Health and Well- Being, Kintampo, (CoHWK) and potential implications on patients. A qualitative approach was employed with corpus and cross-sectional study designs to examine 120 CoHWK students; and structured interview to study 30 patients at Kintampo Municipal Hospital who were selected using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Data was analysed using thematic approach. Response rate was 100%. It was uncovered that modal verb use among the students’ needs improvement as a majority, 67 (55.8%) of the students used modal verbs only 11-20 times in their examination scripts. The least used modal verbs were: shall, 9 (0.6%) and ought to, 10 (0.7%). Should was the favourite for females and will, the favourite for males. Many errors, 89 (5.9%) were detected; some of the students misapplied will (50.6%) and would (30.3%). It was concluded that wrong modal verb use could have negative effects on the moods and conditions of patients as many, 18 (60%) of the patients indicated that the misapplication of must exacerbated by loud tones indicated command which offended them. It is recommended that the Academic Affairs Office of CoHWK should broaden the curriculum for teaching Communication Skills to include a comprehensive topic on modal verbs.