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punitive, inaccurate, judgmental ways). Students observe and take notes of exam-
ples of poor advanced empathy and confrontation.
Estimated time: 10 min.
Process
Students share their examples of poor advanced empathy and confrontation
responses. Then they discuss the impact of the counselor’s poor skills on the patient.
The patient can offer her or his impressions of the counselor’s behaviors after the
other students have made their comments. The instructor could divide the group of
students and instruct half to focus on counselor behaviors and half to focus on
patient behaviors, or half of the class could focus on advanced empathy behaviors,
and the other half could focus on confrontation behaviors.
Estimated time: 15 min.
Instructor Note
- Students often have difficulty differentiating advanced empathy from confronta-
tion. The instructor should assist them in categorizing the responses they observe
in the role-play. - One issue that may come up is the counselor’s intended response (e.g., advanced
empathy) may be perceived differently by the patient or observers (e.g., as a
confrontation). - One option is to continue with a role-play used earlier in the class, so the coun-
selor can more quickly move to advanced empathy and confrontation skills.
Activity 3b: High-Level Advanced Empathy and Confrontation Skills Model
The instructor and the same volunteer repeat the same role-play, only this time the
counselor displays good advanced empathy and confrontation skills. Students take
notes of examples of good advanced empathy and confrontation behaviors.
Estimated time: 15 min.
Process
Students discuss their examples of good advanced empathy and confrontation
responses and the impact of the counselor’s behaviors on the patient. They also
contrast this role-play to the low-level role-play. The instructor could divide the
group of students and have half focus on counselor behaviors and half focus on
patient behaviors, or half of the class could focus on advanced empathy behaviors,
and the other half could focus on confrontation behaviors.
Estimated time: 15 min.
Instructor Note
- Students could work together in think-pair-share dyads to identify advanced
empathy and confrontation examples and their impact on the patient.
8 Responding to Patient Cues: Advanced Empathy and Confrontation Skills