Understanding Partnerships With Patients/Clients in a Team Context Through Verbatim Theater

Transitions Theatre: Creating a Research-Based Reader's Theatre With Disabled Youth and Their Families

Transition to adult life can be a challenging time for disabled youth and their families. This article describes the collaborative creation of Transitions Theatre, a research-based reader's theatre activity based on narrative interviews with eight disabled youth (aged 17-22) and seven parents. Analysis of these interviews generated two opposing yet interrelated themes. On one hand, youth and families felt lost in transition facing multiple gaps in healthcare, financial support, education, and opportunities for social participation after having "aged out" of the pediatric system. On the other hand, they started cripping "normal" adulthood to envision more inclusive futures wherein disabilities are understood as integral to society. These two themes were transformed into two reader's theatre scripts, one featuring a youth, the other featuring a parent. Seven youth and four parents (six of them were original interview participants) then participated in a Transitions Theatre workshop to read the scripts together and discuss the authenticity and relatability of the scripts. Participant feedback suggested that the reader's theatre method was effective in sharing findings with research participants and stimulating a critical dialogue on how to (re)imagine transition to adulthood. We discuss the importance of implementing inclusive design strategies to make reader's theatre accessible to participants with diverse abilities and preferences.

Using Forum Theater as a Teaching Tool to Combat Patient Bias Directed Toward Health Care Professionals

INTRODUCTION

Health care professionals who identify as members of underrepresented and racial minority groups may experience bias from patients and patient families. These occurrences disrupt the educational and therapeutic environments, distress the targeted individuals and allies, and create potential legal liability. Yet there are few educational opportunities for individuals to brainstorm and implement strategies for responding professionally during such instances.

METHODS

Presented first as a grand rounds, then an invited workshop, and finally an invited series, this educational activity was developed in a stepwise manner over the course of a year. Each format was sequentially modified based on feedback from participants-more than 200 physicians and other health care professionals-using evaluation forms that were voluntary and anonymous. The educational activity used an adaptation of forum theater, in which participants role-played an instance of oppression with a goal of altering the ultimate outcome. This approach provided participants with the opportunity to develop and rehearse responses to workplace bias in a way that preserved the provider-patient relationship.

RESULTS

Feedback for these educational sessions was overwhelmingly positive. Participants noted the importance of acknowledging and addressing bias in the workplace and encouraged facilitators to expand the sessions in length, frequency, and scope.

DISCUSSION

Forum theater is a methodology that can be employed in health care to teach appropriate and authentic responses to expressed patient bias while maintaining the therapeutic relationship. The positive reception from participants in our preliminary sessions established a strong foundation for future improvements to this work.

Teaching About Partnerships Between Patients and the Team: Exploring Student Perceptions

Health profession educators are responding to shifting approaches where patients are increasingly recognized as partners in an interprofessional care process. To foster competencies related to partnerships between patients and the team, educators have advanced the role of patient partners; however, an appreciation of resulting student learning is in its early stages. First-year students from 9 programs interacted with patient partners and participated in a Reader’s Theater that explored partnerships with patients in an interprofessional team. Students completed reflective assignments; an inductive thematic analysis explored student learning. The following 4 overarching themes were recognized: developing insights through patient perspective, promoting partnerships with patients, recognizing attitudes that promote therapeutic relationships, and advocating for the patient to be a team member. Accompanying subthemes provide enhancement of each of the identified themes. Students discussed the effect of poor collaboration, identified attitudes that promote collaboration, and expressed the value of advocacy for patient partnership. An enriched appreciation of student learning will guide educator engagement of patient partners in both health professional and interprofessional curricula.

Active Learning on Center Stage: Theater as a Tool for Medical Education

INTRODUCTION

Knowledge and skill development related to communication must incorporate both affective and behavioral components, which are often difficult to deliver in a learning activity. Using theater techniques and principles can provide medical educators with tools to teach communication concepts.

METHODS

This 75-minute faculty development workshop presents a variety of techniques from theater and adapts them for use in medical education. Using examples related to diversity and inclusion, this session addresses general educational and theater principles, role-play, sociodrama, applied improvisation, and practical aspects of involving theater partners. The session materials include a PowerPoint presentation with facilitator notes, interactive activities to demonstrate each modality, and an evaluation. The sessions can be extended to longer formats as needed.

RESULTS

Forty-five participants at Learn Serve Lead 2016: The AAMC Annual Meeting attended the 75-minute session. We emailed 32 participants 5 months after the conference, and eight responded. Participants reported that their confidence level in using theater techniques as a tool for medical education increased from low-to-medium confidence presession to high confidence postsession. All survey respondents who were actively teaching said they had made changes to their teaching based on the workshop. All commented that they appreciated the active learning in the session. Many indicated they would appreciate video or other follow-up resources.

DISCUSSION

Principles and techniques from theater are effective tools to convey difficult-to-teach concepts related to communication. This workshop presents tools to implement activities in teaching these difficult concepts.

Patient Experience in Health Professions Curriculum Development

To enhance student learning, many health profession programs are embracing involvement of patients in their curricula, yet little is known about the impact of such an experience on patients.

OBJECTIVE

To understand the experiences of patients who contributed to the creation of a Verbatim Reader's Theater used in health professions curriculum.

METHODS

A semi-structured interview was conducted with a focus group of 3 patients who participated in curriculum development. The interview was recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed for themes using van Manen approach to hermeneutic phenomenology.

RESULTS

Five themes emerged: (1) contextualizing contribution, (2) addressing expectations, (3) changing health-care service delivery, (4) sharing common experiences, and (5) coordinating participation.

CONCLUSION

Patients had a positive experience contributing to curriculum development and found meaning in sharing their lived experience to shape the values of future clinicians. Strategies to promote continued success in partnership between patients and health professional curriculum developers include clear communication about the project's direction and early discussion of patient role and expectations.