69Activity 3: Psychological Attending Role Play
The instructor engages in a 10–15-min, video-recorded role-play with a volunteer from
outside of the class. The volunteer leaves, and then the students recall everything they
can about the “patient’s” demographic characteristics (gender, ethnicity, eye and hair
color, height, weight, dress, etc.) and nonverbal behaviors. Then the instructor plays back
the videotaped session and students compare it to their recalled responses. Usually the
students will have overlooked or forgotten some characteristics or behaviors. This leads
into a discussion of how difficult it is to fully attend to all aspects of another person.
Estimated time: 30–35 min.
Activity 4: Psychological Attending (Genetic Counseling Video)
The instructor shows students a segment of a video-recorded genetic counseling
session (either an actual or a simulated session) with the volume turned-off. In a
large group, the students identify what they think the counselor and patient are talk-
ing about and what feelings each person is experiencing. Next, the instructor replays
the segment with the volume on. The students compare their description of the
volume- off segment with the volume-on segment.
Estimated time: 30 min.
Instructor Note
- The instructor could also ask students to identify counselor and patient nonverbal
behaviors that are in sync (synchronicity) and those that are discordant. If stu-
dents desire additional practice, they could try this same exercise at home with
television programs or videos.
Activity 5a: Psychological Attending Role-Play (Dyads)
Dyads discuss any topic (e.g., how it feels to be taking a course on counseling skills,
how it feels to be in school this year, etc.) with their eyes closed. One person is the
speaker (patient) and one person is the listener (counselor). They engage in a dia-
logue for 5 min. The student who is the listener (counselor) should try to sense the
patient’s experience from what she/he says and how she/he says it.
Estimated time: 5 min.
Process
In the large group, dyads respond to these questions: How did it feel to converse
with your eyes closed? What cues did you respond to? What was hard? Easy? How
much do you rely on visual cues? What strategies did you use to establish rapport?
To understand the “patient”? How well do you think these strategies would translate
to telephone counseling or another sort of telehealth?
Estimated time: 10 min.
3.8 Class Activities