Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Use of Interactive Theater and Role Play to Develop Medical Students’ Skills in Breaking Bad News

  • Published:
Journal of Cancer Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Creative arts have been increasingly implemented in medical education. This study investigated the use of interactive theater and role play with professional actors in teaching breaking bad news to medical students. The objectives were to explore the contexts, approaches, experiences, and reactions in giving and receiving bad news. Second-year medical students participated in a required educational session that utilized interactive theater which helps students learn about the issues of breaking bad news to a patient with cancer. Following the interactive theater piece, professional actors provided students role play experiences in small groups with breaking bad news. Anonymous evaluation surveys were given out to all second-year medical students at the conclusion of the breaking bad news session. Surveys contained quantitative and qualitative responses. Three years of evaluations were analyzed. A total of 451 (88 %) students completed the evaluations. Comments were thematically analyzed. Ninety-four percent agreed that the theater piece prompted reflection on patient-provider communications, and 89 % agreed that it stimulated discussion on complex issues with breaking bad news. The two most common themes in student comments concerned the importance of realism in the theater piece, and the value of experiencing multiple perspectives. Use of professional actors during the role play exercises enhances the realism and pushed the students out of their own “comfort zones” in ways that may more closely approximate real life clinical situations. Interactive theater can be a potentially powerful tool to teach breaking bad news during medical school.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Shapiro J, Hunt L (2003) All the world's a stage: the use of theatrical performance in medical education. Med Educ 37(10):922–927

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Lorenz KA, Steckart JM, Rosenfeld KE (2004) End-of-life education using the dramatic arts: the Wit educational initiative. Acad Med 79(5):481–486

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Rosenbaum ME, Kreiter C (2002) Teaching delivery of bad news using experiential sessions with standardized patients. Teach Learn Med 14(3):144–149

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kohn M (2011) Performing medicine: the role of theatre in medical education. Med Human 37(1):3–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Kumagai AK, White CB, Ross PT, Purkiss JA, O'Neal CM, Steiger JA (2007) Use of interactive theater for faculty development in multicultural education. Med Teach 29:335–340

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Tang TS, Skye EP, Steiger JA (2009) Increasing patient acceptance of medical student participation: using interactive theatre for faculty development. Teach Learn Med 21(3):195–200

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Gray RE, Fitch MI, Labrecque M, Greenberg M (2003) Reactions of health professionals to a research-based theater production. J Cancer Educ 18(4):223–229

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Johnson L, Ousley A, Swarz J, Bingham RJ, Erickson JB, Ellis S, Moody T (2011) The art and science of cancer education and evaluation: toward facilitating improved patient outcomes. J Cancer Educ 26(1):27–35

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Back T (2013) Breaking bad news. Retreived from Ethics in Medicine, University of Washington School of Medcine http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/badnws.html

  10. Boal A (1985) Theatre of the oppressed. Teatro del oprimido y otras po√©ticas pol√ ≠ ticas.English, vol. xiv, 197 p. Theatre Communications Group, New York

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kumagai AK (2010) Invited commentary: Forks in the road: disruption and transformation in professional development. Acad Med 85:1819–1820

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Piaget J (1985) The equilibration of cognitive structures: the central problem of intellectual development. In: Terrance B, Thampy KJ (eds) Equilibration des structures cognitives. English. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  13. Dewey J (1910) How we think. Barnes & Noble, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  14. Mezirow J (1991) Transformative dimensions of adult learning. The Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  15. Belling C (2006) The "bad news scene" as clinical drama part I: writing scenes. Fam Med 38(6):390–392

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Kumagai AK (2012) Perspective: acts of interpretation: a philosophical approach to using creative arts in medical education. Acad Med 87(8):1138–1144

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Salmon P, Young B (2011) Creativity in clinical communication: from communication skills to skilled communication. Med Educ 45(3):217–226

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Levy J (1997) Theatre and Moral Education. J Aesthetic Educ 31(3):65–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Aristotle (2009) The Nicomachean ethics. Trans. W. D. Ross, and Lesley Brown, xliiith edn. Oxford University Press, New York, 277 p

    Google Scholar 

  20. Montgomery K (2006) How doctors think: clinical judgment and the practice of medicine. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  21. Pellegrino ED, Thomasma DC (1993) The virtues in medical practice. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  22. Fuks A, Brawer J, Boudreau JD (2012) The foundation of physicianship. Persp Biol Med 55:114–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Kumagai AK (2013) From competencies to human interests: ways of knowing and understanding in medical education. Acad Med

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, 1150 West Medical Center Drive M7325D Medical Science I, SPC 5625, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-5625, USA

    Eric P. Skye & Arno K. Kumagai

  2. Office of Medical Student Education, University of Michigan Medical School, 7330 Medical Science Building 1, 1301 Catherine St., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-5624, USA

    Heather Wagenschutz

  3. George Washington University Medical School, The George Washington University, 2120L Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC, 20037, USA

    Jeffrey A. Steiger

Authors
  1. Eric P. Skye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Heather Wagenschutz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jeffrey A. Steiger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Arno K. Kumagai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heather Wagenschutz.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Skye, E.P., Wagenschutz, H., Steiger, J.A. et al. Use of Interactive Theater and Role Play to Develop Medical Students’ Skills in Breaking Bad News. J Canc Educ 29, 704–708 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-014-0641-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-014-0641-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation