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OSU Center for Health Sciences Clinical Professors Dr. Jason Beaman, left, and Dr. Mo Som were awarded the 2022 Albert Bandura Influencer Award for their research into the effectiveness of Crucial Conversations on the students and physicians at OSU-CHS.

OSU-CHS awarded Bandura Award for Crucial Conversations research

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Media Contact: Sara Plummer | Communications Coordinator | 918-561-1282 | sara.plummer@okstate.edu

Crucial Learning, a learning company with courses in communication, performance and leadership, awarded the 2022 Albert Bandura Influencer Award to Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences.

Named for Bandura — world-renowned psychologist — the award recognizes organizations, leaders, and scholars who have advanced both scholarship and practice in enabling self-directed human change. The award was founded under the premise that human behavior is a direct cause behind the world’s most pervasive and significant challenges. As a result, the health, peace and prosperity of humanity hinges on organizations and individuals learning the science behind influencing human behavior.

OSU Center for Health Sciences trained its faculty, students and residents in Crucial Learning’s Crucial Conversations course. In a formal analysis after implementing Crucial Conversations, OSU faculty found improvements in the areas of teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, stress recognition, perceptions of management and working conditions.

“We are honored to receive the Albert Bandura Influencer Award,” said Dr. Jason Beaman, a clinical assistant professor and the department chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at OSU-CHS. “Communication in the health care industry is more vital than ever, and our leadership and faculty are committed to helping Oklahoma State students and residents shine as examples of professionalism and expertise in the field.”

Dr. Mo Som, professor of internal medicine at OSU-CHS, said she recognized that Crucial Conversations could revolutionize how interpersonal communications and professionalism is taught in an academic setting.

“To improve health care, it has to start with communication. We at OSU Center for Health Sciences and OSU Medicine are proving that every single day and I think Crucial Conversations has a big role to play because we know how to have difficult conversations. We know how to focus on the things that are important, which at the end of the day, is the individual’s health care,” Som said.

Since 2010, Crucial Learning has recognized outstanding influencers, including Dr. Mimi Silbert, the founder of the Delancey Street Institute who has changed the lives of 18,000 hardened criminals; David Levin, cofounder of KIPP, the Knowledge is Power Program that has helped 20,000 at-risk youth graduate high school; and The Carter Center, which eradicated guinea worm disease.

“Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences is a bright example of an organization changing lives for the better,” said Joseph Grenny, cofounder of Crucial Learning. “We are thrilled to recognize Oklahoma State and their efforts to positively influence their students, residents and the patients they serve.”

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