Mindful teaching practice: lessons learned through a hearing voices simulation

A hearing voices simulation (Deegan, 1996) was conducted with mental health nursing students (N = 87) at a large Midwestern university. The goals of this simulation were to change attitudes and decrease stigma. Students used mp3 players to listen to an audio simulation while simultaneously engaging in activities requiring focus and concentration. The Attitude toward Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ; Cunningham, Sobell, & Chow, 1993) was administered pre-and post-simulation and open-ended questions about the experience also were asked. Responses to questions demonstrated increased patience, tolerance, understanding, and empathy among participants. Statistical data demonstrated significant changes in participants post-simulation. However, although students reported increased comfort being around persons hearing voices, they were less likely to acknowledge individual behavior as indicative of recovery. In this article, we discuss how these unexpected outcomes may be related to a subtle illness versus recovery focus. We emphasize how educators must be mindful and reflective about beliefs and attitudes that inform their teaching, and ultimately, their students' learning.