Curtains up! Using forum theatre to rehearse the art of communication in healthcare education

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Abstract

Teaching students to develop high quality communication skills in healthcare education is vitally important if best practice is to be achieved. These skills have often been seen as challenging to successfully develop. Didactic approaches impart knowledge but not necessarily the opportunities to practice communication techniques. This paper shares the experiences of a group of University lecturers introducing the use of an experiential theatrical technique, forum theatre, to support students to develop their communication skills. Forum theatre aims to create a dynamic learning environment enabling students to try out different communication strategies within a safe setting. Academic staff perform short scripted scenes developed using their knowledge from practice along with the experience of carers and service users. The end result is always unsatisfactory for the service user. The scene is then re-run inviting the students to interact with the characters and to change the outcome to a positive one resulting in a collaborative experience.

Section snippets

Communication skills in healthcare

Communication is at the heart of healthcare provision and therefore needs to be at the heart of health education (Nursing and Midwifery Council [NMC], 2010, Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2008, Department of Health, 2010). The quality of interaction between service users, carers and the interprofessional team has a significant impact on the quality of care and the impact of poor interdisciplinary and cross organisational communication has been identified by a number of inquiries (Kennedy, 2001,

Setting the scene

Forum theatre is a dynamic approach to developing communication skills. It was developed by a Brazilian theatre director Augustus Boal during the 1970’s as a way of exploring solutions to real-life dilemmas in a safe environment (Boal, 2008). Boal (2008) is credited as being the founding father of the ‘theatre of the oppressed’ which encapsulated a range of theatrical methods such as image theatre, newspaper theatre and rainbow of desire. Boal was an advocate of using theatrical techniques as a

The student’s voice

It is important that from the beginning students feel that they are in a safe environment where they can enquire, be uncertain, try out words or approaches and see what works. The role of the facilitator is to maintain the safety of that environment and establish the ground rules for the group to work cooperatively. The group needs to discuss interactions that they may have witnessed or experienced themselves in the past. Sharing stories is pivotal in exploring development (Fairbairn, 2002,

Choosing the scenario

The aim of a typical scenario is to portray characters with whom the audience will identify. In order to achieve this, we created Mr. Smart, a benign older man, who is 78 and living alone following the death of his wife of some 45 years. Mr. Smart, a former police officer, is an affable, polite and chatty man. Unsteady on his feet, he walks slowly and with a stick. He has been referred because of some concerns around his memory and his ability to cope at home. He has a daughter who lives some

Discussion

There is a requirement for student nurses to develop an array of technical skills to ensure that they are able to meet the competencies for entrance to the NMC register (NMC, 2010). Simulated practice offers an opportunity to help student nurses develop confidence with psychomotor skills in an environment that poses no risk to actual service users (McCallum, 2007). Freshwater and Stickley (2004 p.94) argue that ‘nursing is becoming more and more technical at the expense of the human qualities

Conclusion

Students need to appreciate the complexities of communication, their own personal style and the context in which different communication habits unfold. Teaching should be about empowering and encouraging the development of enquiring minds and critical thinkers who are prepared to work in complex healthcare environments. Practitioners need to develop and connect with their own voice and feelings so that they can make a real difference to service user care.

Forum theatre is a technique that can

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no known conflicts of interest in the writing of this manuscript.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mark Radcliffe for inspiring us to start writing this article.

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