Role play: getting the participants to play out concrete situations

There are many tools which allow for an active participation of trainees, such as the “buzz” technique, the use of photos, of mini presentation by the participants, tasks performed in small groups and then presented to the whole audience, etc.

A website built by UNICEF gives a whole array of interactive tools:

http://portals.wi.wur.nl/files/docs/ppme/VIPP_Unicef.pdf (, 3.22 Mo)

The role play allows participants to practice their communication skills and experience how to explore the lifestyles of adolescents. Based on a specific scenario, the participant playing the health professional is given a specific task to apply, while the participant who role plays the adolescent is invited to think about what it means to be an adolescent patient. A third participant and/or a supervisor observes the encounter to then give a critical, respectful and positive feedback.

Role play can also be organized to tackle other situations such as team discussions around health care, ethics or the setting of priorities in the field of public health.

In this video, the participant was asked to run a brief counselling intervention with a smoking adolescent, using some principles of motivational interviewing.

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