70
Activity 5b: Psychological Attending Role-Play (Dyads)
The same dyads take turns being the counselor and the patient for two, 10-min role-
plays, using the same discussion topic as in the previous exercise. The counselor
watches for a significant patient nonverbal (e.g., change in breathing, shift in eye
contact, voice tone). The counselor should not focus on small nonverbals that are
out of context with spoken words. After the counselor has observed one significant
nonverbal, she/he should focus by asking the patient whether the patient is aware of
what is happening to his/her breathing, eye contact, voice tone, etc. The counselor
should not interpret or assign meaning to the patient’s behavior. The counselor
should merely notice where the focus takes the patient.
Estimated time: 20 min.
Process
After both role-plays are completed, students discuss the following questions: What
kinds of nonverbals did you focus on? What happened when you pointed them out?
Both the counselor and the patient should comment on the latter question.
Estimated time: 10 min.
Activity 6: Physical Attending Role-Play (Dyads)
Dyads engage in 10-min role-plays, taking turns as counselor and patient. The
instructor gives the patient the following instructions (the counselors should not see
these instructions).
Role-play 1: The patient violates the counselor’s personal space (sits too close, leans
in too far, touches the counselor).
Role-play 2: The patient acts uncomfortable with the counselor’s eye contact. Whenever
the counselor looks at the patient, the patient should turn away, fidget, stammer, etc.
Estimated time: 20 min.
Process
After both role-plays are completed, students discuss the following questions: How
did the counselor feel? What did the counselor in each role-play think was going
on? Was the counselor in Role-play #2 aware of the patient’s discomfort with eye
contact? What did the counselor do with this awareness?
Estimated time: 10–20 min.
Activity 7a: Low-Level Attending Skills Model
Instructor and a volunteer genetic counseling patient engage in a role-play in which
the counselor demonstrates poor physical and psychological attending behaviors
(see section on Challenges in Attending for some examples of poor attending).
Students observe and take notes of examples of poor attending.
Estimated time: 5 min.
3 Listening tofiPatients: Attending Skills