Abstract
BACKGROUND: Communication apprehension (CA) poses a significant barrier for students transitioning to university life, particularly in health communication fields such as speech-language pathology and audiology. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated communication challenges through prolonged remote learning. Psychological resilience has been identified as a protective factor that may help mitigate these difficulties. METHODS: This study aimed to develop and assess a resilience-focused intervention designed to improve communication apprehension among undergraduate students in the Department of Health Communication Sciences (HCS) and to examine the relationship between resilience and CA. A quasi-experimental pre-post design was implemented. Eighty-five female students completed validated scales measuring psychological resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale; CD-RISC-10) and communication apprehension (Personal Report of Communication Apprehension; PRCA-24) before and after participating in a resilience-enhancing intervention. Paired t-tests were conducted to assess changes, and significance was set at p < .05. RESULTS: Significant improvements were observed in key resilience domains, including flexibility (p < .001), self-efficacy (p < .001), and cognitive focus (p = .003), along with a significant increase in overall resilience scores (p = .003). CA significantly decreased in the group discussion, meetings, and interpersonal conversation contexts (p < .001 for each). However, no significant reduction was observed in public speaking apprehension (p = .644). Post-intervention, total CA showed significant positive correlations with meeting (r = .270, p < .05), interpersonal conversation scores (r = .240, p < .05), and public speaking scores (r = .414, p < .01). Conversely, total PRCA-24 was negatively correlated with both group discussion (r = - .357, p < .01) and resilience scores (r = - .450, p < .01). Regression analysis revealed that improvement in resilience significantly predicted a reduction in CA scores (p = .036). CONCLUSION: Resilience-enhancement interventions may be effective in reducing CA among students in the department of HCS, particularly in interactive contexts. Given the critical role of communication skills in healthcare professions, integrating resilience-building programs into undergraduate education could support both psychological well-being and professional development. Further research is recommended to specifically target public speaking anxiety and to validate these findings across diverse student populations.