Maureen Maxwell

The Case for Counselling in Physiotherapy

Summary Physiotherapists are from time to time called upon to adopt a counselling role when treating patients who are experiencing emotional as well-as physical problems. This article describes and evaluates a micro-counselling approach as a means of training therapists to handle the emotional as well as the physical difficulties which patients display. In addition, it examines one technique, namely that of ‘reflecting’ which is a key skill in the role of counselling.

An evaluation of communication skills training for physiotherapy students

This evaluation study concerned the modules of communication skills training in the second, third and fourth years of an undergraduate programme of study in an honours degree course in physiotherapy. Questionnaires were administered to the students to ascertain their attitudes to the training programme. Lecturers in physiotherapy who were not involved in the training programme were interviewed regarding their perceptions of the importance of this communication skills training. The results show a positive attitude towards the skills training, and the important relationship with good clinical practice was emphasized.

Using Role-play with Physiotherapy Students: Part 1: Background and Rationale

Summary This is the first part of an article on role-play as an instructional medium of relevance to physiotherapy education. As such, it provides a broad background to the technique which is then extended in a more practical and applied way in the second part. More specifically, part 1 locates role-play within the context of experiential learning and the enhancement of the interpersonal competence of students. The concept of role is examined together with the origins of role-play. A rationale is developed for its utilisation in the preparation of physiotherapists by outlining a range of appropriate educational objectives. These have implications for the selection of role-play procedures to implement and some of the major variants of the technique are accordingly described and evaluated.

ASSESSMENT OF PROFESSIONAL POTENTIAL IN THE PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENT

ABSTRACT This report considers the problems of assessing Professional Potential and makes some suggestions for assisting students in the professional socialisation process