Health and social care professionals have to develop effective communication skills in order to work with the diverse range of people who use and work within care services. The two contexts, or types of circumstances, in which communication and interaction occur are one-to-one and group contexts.
One-to-one communication occurs when one person speaks with or writes to another individual. Examples of one-to-one communication in health care could be a patient talking to his/her doctor, a doctor talking to a patient’s family and a doctor breaking sensitive news to a patient. Effective communication and interaction play an important role in the work of all health and social care professionals. For example, care professionals need to be able to use a range of communication and interaction skills in order to: Work inclusively with people of different ages and diverse backgrounds, respond appropriately to the variety of care-related problems and individual needs of people who use care services, obtain clear, accurate information about a person’s problems, symptoms or concerns.
Group communication follows slightly different ‘rules’ to communication in one-to-one situations. There is often more going on in a group, with a number of different people trying to speak, get their point across and their voice heard. These work better when the group is small as the leader can interact better than working with large groups.
As a communication context, groups can have a number of benefits for participants: a group can be an effective way of sharing responsibilities and groups can improve decision-making and problem-solving because they draw on the knowledge and skills of a number of people
However, groups can also limit the effectiveness of communication if: people find it hard to speak and contribute effectively or to challenge aspects of the group’s thinking or practices. This can lead to