Effects of modeling, rehearsal, feedback, and remediation on acquisition of a counseling strategy.

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of four primary components of the microcounseling training model in the acquisition of a counseling strategy. The four training components investigated were (a) written and video models; (b) roleplay practice; (c) peer feedback; and (d) role-play remediation practice. Forty beginning graduate students in counseling were assigned randomly to the following four treatment conditions: modeling; modeling and practice; modeling, practice, and feedback; and modeling, practice, feedback, and remediation. Written pretest, posttest, and retention test measures and posttest and retention test role-play interview measures were obtained of the dependent variable-the developing goals counseling strategy. On the written measures, the performance of all four groups increased significantly from pretest to posttest and from pretest to retention test. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that all groups performed equally well on the posttest roleplay interview. A repeated measures ANOVA on the role-play posttest and retention interviews indicated no significant differences between treatment groups or across trials.

The use of simulated patients and role-play in communication skills training: A review of the literature to August 2005

“…Another possible confounding factor reported was the stage of study of the two groups of students (one medical school taught pelvic examination in the second year, and the other in the third year)-the third years were trained by the laywoman, but their communication skills may have been more advanced because they have more experience of using communication skills in practice. Other studies [41][42][43] have shown that the use of simulated patients and/or role-play produced improvements no greater than other interactive methods of training, although two studies [41,43] may not have been statistically powerful enough to detect between group differences. It should also be noted that the students in the Peters et al [41] study were told to practice the nine steps of microcounseling that had been taught before the assessment.…”

“…Other studies [41][42][43] have shown that the use of simulated patients and/or role-play produced improvements no greater than other interactive methods of training, although two studies [41,43] may not have been statistically powerful enough to detect between group differences. It should also be noted that the students in the Peters et al [41] study were told to practice the nine steps of microcounseling that had been taught before the assessment.…”

“…Many studies use simulated patients and/or role-play in combination with a number of other teaching methods, such as feedback and group discussion, making it difficult to deduce whether it is the actual use of simulated patients/role-play that have contributed to the greatest improvements in specific communication skills, or whether it is a combination of the practice and rehearsal of skills with other methods of training. Some of the studies reviewed used small sample sizes [36,37,41,43] with one study containing only six participants in each group for comparison [36], and another randomizing just eighteen students [37]. Only two of the studies reviewed conducted a statistical power calculation [9,31].…”

“…Peters et al [41] compared four methods of teaching 'microcounseling' to counseling students by using written and video models of practice, modeling plus role-play, modeling plus role-play plus feedback, and modeling plus role-play plus feedback plus second role-play. Although all students demonstrated improvement in microcounseling skills, no significant differences were observed between groups.…”

A Two‐Study Comparison of Written and Video Modeling and of Written and Oral Assessment

“…This study was designed to assess both quality and quantity measures of the dependent variables. In counselor training, it is common for researchers to limt the measure of the dependent variable to a single frequency count (Bailey, Deardorff, & Nay, 1977;Frankel, 1971;Kuna, 1975;Peters, Cormier, & Cormier, 1978;Stone, 1975;Wallace, Horan, Baker, & Hudson, 1975). Research on training effectiveness by Stokes and Tait (1978), however, demonstrated that a single measure of the dependent variable would have presented a limited scope of the findings.…”