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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/1956/1904
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| Title: | Analysis of role-play in medical communication training using a theatrical device the fourth wall |
| Authors: | Jacobsen, Torild
Baerheim, Anders
Lepp, Margret Rose
Schei, Edvin |
| Issue Date: | 14-Oct-2006 |
| Publisher: | BioMed Central |
| Series/Report no.: | BMC Medical Education 6(51) |
| Abstract: | Background: Communication training is a central part of medical education. The aim of this
article is to explore the positions and didactic functions of the fourth wall in medical
communication training, using a role-play model basically similar to a theatrical performance.
Method: The empirical data stem from a communication training model demonstrated at an
international workshop for medical teachers and course organizers. The model involves an
actress playing a patient, students alternating in the role of the doctor, and a teacher who
moderates. The workshop was videotaped and analyzed qualitatively.
Results: The analysis of the empirical material revealed three main locations of the fourth
wall as it moved and changed qualities during the learning session: 1) A traditional theatre
location, where the wall was transparent for the audience, but opaque for the participants in
the fiction. 2) A "timeout/reflection" location, where the wall was doubly opaque, for the
patient on the one side and the moderator, the doctor and the audience on the other side and
3) an "interviewing the character" location where the wall enclosed everybody in the room.
All three locations may contribute to the learning process.
Conclusion: The theatrical concept ‘the fourth wall’ may present an additional tool for new
understanding of fiction based communication training. Increased understanding of such an
activity may help medical teachers/course organizers in planning and evaluating
communication training courses. |
| URI: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-6-51
http://hdl.handle.net/1956/1904 |
| ISSN: | 1472-6920 |
| Appears in Collections: | Section for Social Medicine (Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care)
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