Role-playing (RP) is an active learning pedagogy that has been used frequently in areas such as theatre, history, sports education, health sciences, and social science disciplines (Khan & Sheikh, 2021; Vizeshfar et al., 2016). The RP teaching strategy stems from various theories including Kolb's (1984) experiential learning theory, which suggests that students learn by doing and incorporating knowledge into practice. Additionally, RP is an effective teaching strategy as it uses Flemming and Mill's learning framework of physical senses (Chan, 2012). Students utilize all four senses when RP is used as a learning strategy. For example, visual learners rely on sight to organize or systematize ideas and auditory learners value different types of verbal presentations. Role-playing can make a class more vibrant and increase the cognitive processes necessary to understand, interpret, and analyze new concepts. Role play has also been used to develop mindfulness and soft skills needed in the clinical setting, such as recognizing verbal and non-verbal cues (Khan & Sheikh, 2021).

Role-playing is a simple, adaptable, and cost-effective teaching strategy (Sartain et al., 2021). While simulations and standardized patients are options for teaching various nursing concepts, these teaching methodologies are expensive and require extensive training (Hockenberry & Clark, 2019; Sartain et al., 2021). Furthermore, evidence suggests that role-playing is comparable to using standardized patients for teaching nursing students therapeutic communication skills (Alfes, 2015; Powers et al., 2019).

Role play is also an adaptable teaching strategy that can be used for various topics and techniques. Faculty can create class objectives and design classroom activities for various concepts using RP. Role play may be executed with faculty playing the main or only role as well as assigning parts to students. Faculty must be available to guide students’ feelings and any negative emotions that are brought up during the activity (Lowenstein, 2001; Shearer & Davidhizar, 2003). Role play may be used to teach concepts such as empathy, respect, patient-centered care, skills in a clinical environment, and other unlimited concepts (Ahmady et al., 2021; Sartain et al., 2021). Role-playing strategies are often underutilized and when combined with other teaching strategies, better prepare students for realistic occurrences (Goothy & Swathi, 2019; Khan & Sheikh, 2021). However, there is evidence RP should be utilized more often (Goothy & Swathi, 2019; Khan & Sheikh, 2021).

Not only is RP beneficial for an institution or program's budget, but this strategy has also been shown to increase student learning and improve essential nursing skills. In instances where RP has been used by faculty members, students have reported increased learning and attention during the lesson because they were able to apply class material to real-world situations and the activity was more memorable (DeNeve & Heppner, 1997). Additionally, Sartain et al. (2021) suggested nursing students can benefit from the use of RP, as it offers an opportunity to improve therapeutic communication skills within the nurse-patient relationship by teaching non-verbal skills. Even when traditional teaching methods such as lectures, are compared to those of role-playing strategies, students in the role-playing groups report higher satisfaction with learning and show higher retention compared to traditionally taught students (Ahmady et al., 2021).

Nursing education has mainly taken a student-centered approach to RP where the students are given roles, responding to a scenario through their role's assigned perspective. For example, Nelson and Blenkin (2007) created an online RP platform where students were given one of eight roles relevant to the scenario. The authors wanted to increase the students’ interactions and participation with course material using RP. The roles came with detailed information including a script, for the students to learn. The evaluation of this RP scenario revealed a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction with the learning experience.