| Sumario: | The longstanding use of the peer-to-peer role-play offers social work students an introduction to developing their skills of intervention in a simulated client encounter. This experiential exercise permits students to practice the generalist skills involved in engaging, assessing, intervening, and terminating with clients in distress. Although the student social worker is the central player of this exercise, the client and observer have integral roles. To explore Bachelor of Social Work students' (N = 18) perceptions of the client and observer roles, focus groups were conducted. Thematic analysis revealed the following themes for the client role: 1) Helping the student social worker; 2) Increased empathy for the character; 3) Increased vulnerability; 4) The need for feedback; and 5) Coping with triggers. The themes for the observer role include: 1) Learning through observing; and 2) Placement of observers. Implications for social work educators who use the peer-to-peer role-play are offered.
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