Research On The Role-Playing On Empathy And State-Anxiety Of Novice Counselors

Role-playing simulation counseling is a common training method for psychological counselors.Role playing is widely used in psychological counseling.Existing studies usually assume that the role of counselor is the factor that leads to the effect of training.Few studies have explored the influence of the role of visitor and observer in role playing on the effect of training.In addition,empathy is the basic ability that psychological counselors should have,but the empathy of novice psychological counselors is more likely to be affected by state anxiety,which may have an impact on self-efficacy.Therefore,this paper will explore the role of role playing on the state anxiety and empathy of novice psychological counselors,and take general self-efficacy as an auxiliary research variable to investigate the different training effects of different role playing exercises on novice psychological counselors.The following are two studies in this paper.In study 1,Study 1a conducted questionnaire survey and situational test on 227 novice psychological counselors to explore the relationship among state anxiety,general self-efficacy and empathy among novice psychological counselors.In study 1b,151 subjects in study 1a were role-grouped into control group and 4 experimental groups(counselor group,visitor group,observer group,free group),and the experimental group was given role-playing simulation counseling exercises for 8 weeks.To explore the effect of role-playing exercises for novice psychological counselors.The results showed that(1)State anxiety of novice psychological counselors was positively correlated with empathy,state anxiety was negatively correlated with general selfefficacy,and general self-efficacy was positively correlated with empathy.Among them,general self-efficacy plays a mediating role in the effect of state anxiety on empathy.(2)After role-playing simulation counseling exercises,empathy was significantly improved only in the client group.(3)Compared between groups,the increase of empathy in the client group was significantly higher than that in the other groups.(4)In addition,only the counselor group had a moderating effect in the mediating model,that is,the effects of state anxiety and general self-efficacy on empathy were significantly higher in the counselor group than in other groups.In study 2,12 subjects were randomly selected from study 1b practice group for semi-structured interview,with the theme centering on the effect of role-playing simulation counseling exercises on novice psychological counselors.Through qualitative analysis of the interview texts,it was found that respondents generally believed that role-playing simulation counseling exercises could help improve empathy and self-efficacy and reduce anxiety.In addition,experience and reflection in practice are also important factors for practice to play a role.The research results confirmed the effect of role-playing simulation counseling practice on the training of novice psychological counselors,and found that the experience of the client role in role-playing is an important way to improve the empathy of novice psychological counselors,and the practice of counselor role can increase their sense of efficacy and focus in counseling.These conclusions can provide reference for practitioners to practice role-playing.