Patient Communication Skills Flashcards

Which questioning style is MOST likely to elicit a detailed narrative from a client?

Answer: Open-ended questions

Open-ended questions allow clients to respond in their own words and promote rich, self-directed disclosure.

A counselor summarizes the client's session content at the end of the hour. The PRIMARY purpose of this closing summary is to:

Answer: Consolidate themes and facilitate closure before the next session

A closing summary helps the client integrate the session's content and provides a meaningful transition to ending.

When a client asks, 'Do you think I should leave my husband?' the most therapeutically appropriate response is to:

Answer: Redirect the question back to explore what the client thinks and feels

Redirecting restores agency to the client and avoids fostering dependence on the counselor's judgment for major life decisions.

A Latino male client rarely makes eye contact during sessions. The counselor should FIRST:

Answer: Consider whether limited eye contact is culturally normative for this client

In many Latino cultural contexts, reduced direct eye contact with authority figures is a sign of respect, not avoidance or shame.

Immediacy in counseling refers to the counselor's ability to:

Answer: Discuss what is happening in the therapeutic relationship in the moment

Immediacy involves openly discussing the here-and-now dynamics of the counselor–client relationship to deepen insight.

Which of the following is an example of a minimal encourager?

Answer: 'Mm-hmm.'

Minimal encouragers are brief verbal or nonverbal signals (e.g., 'mm-hmm,' nodding) that communicate attention without interrupting the client's flow.

A counselor's self-disclosure is MOST appropriate when it:

Answer: Is used sparingly and serves the client's therapeutic goals

Appropriate self-disclosure is intentional, brief, and clearly in service of the client rather than the counselor's need to be known.