20
Role-Play Scenario Example
Counseling setting: Genetic counseling agency.
Demographics: 35-year-old female lawyer, first pregnancy 10 weeks gestation.
Situation: Advanced maternal age, sister had baby with trisomy 18.
Surface feelings: Fear.
Hidden feelings: Worry, confusion, unclear about what she would do if the child
had a trisomy.
Thoughts: Concerned about termination and general decision-making.
Behaviors: Diving into details and fidgeting.
Coping strategies/resources: Seeks knowledge, avoids talking about her situa-
tion with others.
Trigger event: Sister informed her of risk.
Description of genetic condition: Advanced maternal age is.... Trisomy 18 is....
Objective This assignment provides practice in perspective-taking, thereby pro-
moting empathy.
Appendix 1.3: Guidelines for Student Role-Plays
A significant amount of class time will be spent doing role-plays. Despite their arti-
ficial nature, role-plays have been shown to be effective in increasing students’
skills (e.g., Duys and Hedstrom 2000 ).
A 1.3.1 Role-Play #1: Triad/Quad Groups
Format
Role-playing will typically be done in a triad or quad consisting of three or four
students. When feasible, one co-instructor will sit in on the triad/quad group. Students
will take turns acting as counselor, patient, and observer. Role-play groups will be
rearranged frequently so that you get the opportunity to work with different people.
Students sometimes will work with the same “patient” over two class sessions,
which allows them to spend more time using basic skills and to gain a deeper con-
ceptualization of the patient issues and genetic counseling process. The second role-
play could be an extension of the first genetic counseling session, a “do-over” of the
first genetic counseling session, or a second genetic counseling session (e.g., genetic
test results discussion).
Length
Early in the course, role-plays will be brief—5–10 min. They will be longer as the
course progresses and new skills are introduced.
1 Guidelines forfiBook Users: Instructors, Supervisors, andfiStudents