Master’s Students’ Experiences in a Multicultural Counseling Role-Play

Abstract

This study examined the experiences of master's students in regard to their participation in a multicultural role-play and review process (Jencius et al. 2004). Whereas the literature has supported the use of role-plays as a multicultural training technique (Alvarez and Miville 2003;Vazquez and Garcia-Vazquez 2003), there is a distinct lack of information on the actual role-play experience itself. The data analyzed from participants' reported experiences about their student counselor and student client roles in this study offers valuable feedback to those who teach multicultural counseling. Participants reported qualitatively different experiences based on which particular role they held.

Reflections of a Multicultural Counseling Course: A Qualitative Study with Counseling Students and Counselors

“…Therefore, counselor trainers are recommended to include different experiential strategies in their courses. Besides the experiential strategies mentioned in the present study, other strategies, such as cultural immersion (Alexander, Kruczek, & Ponterot, 2005;Canfield, Low, & Hovenstadt, 2009;Tomlinson-Clarke & Clarke, 2010), role playing (Rapisarda, Jencius, & McGlothlin, 2011), and interactive drama (Tromski & Doston, 2003), all which seem to have a positive effect on gaining and honing one's multicultural counseling competences, may be used by trainers.…”

Debriefing experiential learning in counselor education

“…Their technique of actor close‐up allows the client actor to provide feedback to the counselor in training, offering a valuable learning exchange. Additional research has focused on the impact of role‐playing on students playing both the role of counselor and client to increase personal and professional identity development and enhance empathic understanding through embodied experiential learning (Rapisarda et al., 2011; Trottier & Hilt, 2017). Overall, experiential learning provides counselors‐in‐training an opportunity to move theory into practice through skills development in the classroom, prior to engaging clients in the clinical environment.…”

A qualitative content analysis of ChatGPT's client simulation role‐play for practising counselling skills

“…Initially, CITs collaborate in pairs, assuming the roles of counsellor and hypothetical client, while the instructor observes and offers feedback. This approach necessitates additional preparation for CITs in portraying the role of a hypothetical client (Rapisarda et al, 2011) and can generate heightened pressure to accurately embody the client's characteristics (Hodgson et al, 2007; Rapisarda et al, 2011). Moreover, as CITs lack formal acting training, their limited acting skills may present additional challenges for the counsellor during the role‐play session (Hodgson et al, 2007).…”