[The "bad news consultation assessment scale" (Aufklärungsgesprächbewertungsskala, AGBS): a tool for assessing communication competencies when breaking bad news to cancer patients].

Introduction: In German-speaking countries "breaking bad news" courses are increasingly included in the medical undergraduate curriculum. In this paper we present an instrument (Aufklärungsgesprächbewertungsskala, AGBS) for the evaluation of communication competencies in the context of disclosing the diagnosis of cancer to patients as well as the results of the reliability analysis for this instrument.

Methods: Following a systematic literature review we selected the "breaking bad news assessment schedule" (BAS) as a model for developing the AGBS.