Evaluation of a workshop using verbatim theatre stimuli to address challenging workplace situations: a pilot study

Challenging workplace situations such as bullying, harassment, depression, suicide and fatigue exist in health care. The performing arts can generate dialogue and engagement with these difficult issues. This study evaluates a workshop for health care students that used filmed vignettes from a verbatim theatre play that used real stories of such situations. The workshop aimed to improve health professional students' confidence in seeking help for depression, addressing mistreatment, understanding mandatory reporting laws and the impact of driver fatigue.

Two workshops were held: one with a mixture of professions, including nursing, medical and allied health students, and the other with medical students only. Participants completed questionnaires before and after each workshop, responding to four Likert questions on understanding and confidence about the issues discussed and free-text responses about the perceived value of the workshop.

Sixty-five people took part in the workshops, with a 100% response rate to the pre-workshop survey and a 98% response rate (n = 64) to the post workshop survey. Students most frequently reported an improvement in understanding mandatory reporting laws (57%), followed by an increase in confidence in dealing with bullying and harassment (44%). Students in the workshop with a mix of professions noted the benefit of learning about these challenging issues alongside students from other health professions.

Students valued the facilitated discussion of sensitive issues. Although many respondents increased their understanding or confidence in the four topics, a smaller proportion reported a reduction after the workshop. Perhaps this resulted from greater appreciation of the complexities of these issues. Health care students valued hearing from other professional groups in the mixed professions workshop.