title: Scripted role play: a technique for teaching sexual history taking.
abstract: Many inexperienced physicians are uncertain as to how to go about gathering a sexual history. They have had courses in basic history taking, but they do not know how to go about obtaining the information in a nonthreatening way. Their opportunities for interaction with real patients have typically been limited. Scripted role play is a very effective method for providing residents with an opportunity to enhance their sexual-history-taking skills. This article describes scripted role play as a teaching method; explains why it is effective for teaching sexual history taking; presents general guidelines for script writing for this purpose; details how to organize a teaching session; and provides some tips for the session facilitator.
authors.affiliation: Munson Family Practice Center, Michigan State University, Traverse City 49686, USA. Eschweicke@aol.com
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Schweickert
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Heeren
mesh_terms: D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000379:methods*; D010021:Osteopathic Medicine / Q000193:education; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012381:Role Playing; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014481:United States