Title: Using Teen Actors to Teach How to Communicate with Adolescents
1Using Teen Actors to Teach How to Communicate
with Adolescents
- Anisha Abraham, MD, MPHAssociate Professor,
Department of Pediatrics - Chief, Section of Adolescent Medicine
- Georgetown University Hospital
- Washington, DC
2Objectives
- To review two programs involving teen actors from
local community organizations Teens Against the
Spread of AIDS (TASA) and Teens and Theater/Duke
Ellington School of Arts - To discuss the benefits of programs using role
play with teen actors in teaching trainees how to
communicate with adolescents
3Teen Actors-TASA
- TASA-group of DC high school students who use
theater techniques to educate youth/families
about health issues and based at Childrens
National Medical Center - In 1997, workshop developed to improve trainee
violence screening skills at CNMC - Workshop used TASA members as teen actors and
educators
4Screening Teens for Violence Risks Workshop
- Participants
- Medical students pediatric residents rotating
thru the adolescent clinic at CNMC - Content
- Trainees received a brief didactic lecture on
violence among teens including FISTS screening
tool (Fights, Injuries, Sexual Violence and
Self-Defense Strategies) - Did one-on-one role play w/ teen actors on
violence related scenarios - Engaged in a panel discussion w/ teens regarding
violence risks at home, school and the community
5Screening for Teen Violence Risks Workshop
- Teen Actors
- TASA members developed their own violence
scenarios including date rape, domestic violence,
etc - Performed 20 min role play w/ trainees, then gave
feedback to trainees on establishing
confidentiality, use of FISTS screen,
identification and management of problem - Engaged in an interactive panel discussion
addressing violence issues at home, school, and
community
6Screening for Teen Violence Risks Workshop
- Led to study assessing impact of workshop on
trainee violence screening skills - Abraham A, Cheng T, Wright J , et al. Assessing
an Educational Intervention to Improve Physician
Violence Screening Skills Pediatrics 2001 107 p
63-73
7Study An Educational Intervention to Improve
Physician Violence Screening
- Purpose- To evaluate a violence prevention
program targeted at health care personnel - Setting- Adolescent clinic of a tertiary care
hospital - Participants- Med students and peds residents
assigned to an adolescent rotation - Intervention- On alternate months, trainees
received 3 hr workshop on violence prevention
including use of FIST screening tool role play
w/ teen actors
8Study An Educational Intervention to Improve
Physician Violence Screening
- Evaluation Methods
- All participants interviewed a standardized
patient (teen actor) c/o a persistent headache w/
an underlying violence- related issue during
their clinical rotation - Participants were not aware that the standardized
patient was an actor and not a real patient - Participants completed pre and post rotation
questionnaires. Teen actors completed an
evaluation of the encounter
9Study Design
- Beginning of rotation End of
rotation - Intervention Group-?Violence Workshop--?Standardiz
ed patient - Pre-rotation questionnaire
Post-rotation
questionnaire
Standardized patient evaluation - Control Group-------------------------------------
----?Standardized patient - Pre-rotation questionnaire
Post-rotation
questionnaire
Standardized patient evaluation
10Study An Educational Intervention to Improve
Physician Violence Screening
- Results- Post-rotation intervention subjects
reported - More screening of fighting history (p lt .003)
- Perceived importance in asking about access/ use
of weapons (plt .02) - More screening of violence in school/neighborhood
(plt .01)
11Standardized Patient Evaluation
12Study An Educational Intervention to Improve
Physician Violence Screening
- Conclusion
- A violence prevention education program using
teen actors improved participants violence
questioning and perceived comfort and importance
in violence screening - Improved identification and management of a
standardized violence-related scenario
13Screening for Teen Violence Risks Workshop
- Taking it on the road
- Conducted workshops with TASA at the National AAP
conference in DC (1999), National ER conference
in DC, the International Adolescent Health
Conference in Lisbon, Portugal (2005), Georgetown
University Hospital, National Naval Medical
Center, etc.
14Duke Ellington/Teens and Theater
- Communicating with Teens Workshop at GUH
started in 2006 involves teen actors from - The Improvisation Group/Theater Program at the
Duke Ellington School of the Arts - The only DC public high school providing
professional arts training college preparation - Teens and Theater
- A group of home-schooled high school students
from the DC area that are involved in
improvisational theater
15Communicating with Teens Workshop at GUH
- Participants
- 3rd yr med students in pediatric clerkship
peds residents in adolescent rotation - Workshop Content
- Overview of SSHADESS assessment (Strengths,
School, Home, Activities, Diet, Drugs, Emotions,
Sexuality, Suicidality and Safety) - Tips on talking to teens establishing
confidentiality - Interactive role play w/ teen actors
16Communicating with Teens Workshop
- Teen Actors
- Create scenarios/perform 20 min role plays with
groups of med students residents - Scenarios topics involve drug use, depression,
gender identity, eating disorders,etc - Give feedback on use of confidentiality,body
language, SSHADESS screen, ability to identify
chief complaint manage issue - Facilitators
- Attending and pediatric residents give feedback
regarding communication techniques and management
of issue
17Communicating with Teens Workshop
18Communicating with Teens Workshop
- 2007-2008 Study
- An Educational Intervention to Improve Physician
Interviewing Skills of Adolescent Patients during
the Pediatric Clerkship involving 150 medical
students - Study conclusion
- Students report increased confidence skills in
communicating w/ teens when participating in
interactive workshop as compared to lecture alone - Workshop as curriculum
- As a result of positive evaluations by trainees
and results of study showing benefit, workshop
has become regular part of pediatric medical
student curriculum conducted every 6 weeks
19Communicating with Teens Workshop
- Reaching larger audiences
- Conducted workshop at 2009 American Academy of
Pediatrics National Conference (DC) - Created sexual history-taking pod cast with teen
actor available at AAP website - Received invitations to take workshop to area
hospitals organizations
20Costs
- Teen and Theater/Duke Ellington Funding
- Initially from 25,000 hospital education grant
to enhance medical student teaching - Under grant, 600/workshop for coordinator/school
- Currently 150/ workshop for approx 8 teens/
coordinator- paid by Pediatric Department - At National conference-teen actors received 50/
workshop from AAP - TASA Funding
- Received primary funding from grants including
Washington AIDS Partnership , GEICO, CNMCs Child
Health Center and Board of Visitors
21Using Teen Actors Lessons Learned
- Scheduling student actors can be challenging
- to avoid missing classes, tests, performances
- Initial development of scenarios requires time
and extensive training - Workshops can be dependent on scenarios and
actors and experience of facilitator - Funding necessary but costs are reasonable
22Using Teen Actors Lessons Learned
- Using teen actors from the community can be a
very rewarding experience for actors,
facilitators and trainees! - Model is easily adaptable
- Pilot studies show interactive role play improves
trainees educational experience - Teen actors can also train medical faculty, non
medical personnel - Actors once trained can be used for many other
adolescent health topics i.e. substance use,
pregnancy prevention, etc.