A qualitative content analysis of ChatGPT's client simulation role-play for practising counselling skills

Role-play is often used as a pedagogical technique by counsellor educators to help counsellors-in-training (CITs) learn and practise counselling skills. This study used qualitative content analysis to assess the effectiveness of Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT), an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, in simulating client role-play to facilitate practising counselling skills. The author used 10 case vignettes to conduct a simulated role-play where ChatGPT was asked to simulate the client and author as counsellor. The results indicated that ChatGPT demonstrated authenticity, consistency, appropriate emotional expression, cultural sensitivity, empathy and self-awareness while portraying the client. However, at times, ChatGPT's responses to the counsellor's questions appeared overly idealised, lacking the authenticity typically observed in real clients. Furthermore, ChatGPT, as a simulated client, lacked non-verbal cues, limiting the overall experience of counselling skill practice. Recommendations for CITs and future research are discussed.