Teaching Tools, Strategies, and Resources, continued

Communication Styles, continued

Activity: Balint Group Discussions

Balint Groups have long been used to convene groups of health care professionals to talk about specific patient encounters and the psychological and social factors involved. The focus of the discussion is the health care provider’s relationship with the patient, the patient’s family, and other members of the health care team. This group process lends itself well to discussions of communication in a multicultural environment.

The tools and information in this module can be used as background for an exploration of cultural and language factors in provider-patient interactions. Instructions on how to set up and conduct Balint Group discussions can be found at http://familymed.musc.edu/balint/.