300
Used sparingly
Concise
Non-argumentative
Intended to meet patient goals
Genuine versus falsely reassuring
Relevant to patient’s situation
Followed up with empathy
Estimated time: 75 min.Instructor Note
- The observer or counselor may wish to stop the role-play if the counselor is obvi-
ously stuck. The students [except the patient] can then engage in a brief conver-
sation about the patient’s dynamics, issues, etc., to help the counselor. Then the
counselor and patient resume the role-play.
Process
Discuss in the large group: How was it to do this exercise? What are you learning
about advice and influencing behaviors in general? About yourself? What questions
do you still have about these skills?
Estimated time: 20 min.
11.5 Written Exercises
Exercise 1: Advice
Refer to Silver’s (1991) eight beliefs of counselors who give advice described in this
chapter under the heading, “Giving Advice Based on Faulty Assumptions”. Provide
one or two written arguments against each belief.
Exercise 2: Advice and Influencing Responses
Read each of the 14 patient statements listed in Chap. 8 , Exercise 2, and give one
advice response and one influencing response for each statement. Write your
responses as if you were actually talking to the patient.
[Hint: You may need to infer more knowledge about the patient in order to for-
mulate your responses. It may be helpful to follow up on the empathy statements
you developed previously for Chap. 8 , Exercise 2.]
Example
For the example of the 40-year-old man at risk for Huntington disease cited in Chap.
8 , Exercise 2:
Advice: “Perhaps you should reconsider what having the testing done will mean for
you.”
10 Providing Guidance: Advice andfiInfluencing Skills