Role Of Nonverbal Communication In Health And Social Care

Non-verbal communication (N.V.C) refers to the interpretation and communication of information by any means other than language. N.V.C includes communication through any expressive or behavioural channel of communication such as bodily movements, facial expression, vocal tone and many other channels. N.V.C involves cues related to the communication of information as well as the interpretation of information. The interpretation and communication of non-verbal behaviour draws an implicit and tacit knowledge that all people possess.
Such communication is often subtle, spontaneous, and incontrollable and rapidly and unconsciously interpreted and communicated, and provides a great lot of information regarding affective states. Although non-verbal
can be controlled to abide by cultural display rules ant to meet certain personal goals such as deception or impression management, such communication is by and large, a more automatic rather than a controlled process.
N.V.C is used to communicate and express thought, emotions and feelings, to establish and maintain relationships and to influence others.
In a social care setting, N.V.C is particularly important in establishing and maintaining Social Care Worker (S.C.W)-service user relationships and influencing the service user to comply with the service regime. N.V.C affects the S.C.W, the service user and the relationship in the S.C.W-service user dyad. Such communication can affect several important health related outcomes, such as the service user’s adherence to regimes, recovery and sometime survival.
Service users can be particularly sensitive to a S.C.W’s non-verbal behaviours because they are often nervous and/or vulnerable and want to discern the true feeling of the S.C.W. In seeking information about their situation, the service user pays close attention, not only to the information being given but also the manner in which the information is communicated.
A subtle gesture, a change in vocal tone, or too little or too much eye contact may result in a very different interpretation of a message by a service user. And, as such, often it is not what a S.C.W says but the manner in which it is said that leads to a service user’s trust or mistrust or like or
dislike.

The N.V.C of the service user is also very important to the S.C.W, as they gather information about service users mental as well as physical states from service user’s non-verbal cues, service users may not always say what they really feel, but the non-verbal cues might convey their true underlying feelings. For example, a service user may deny being anxious, but the S.C.W may sense anxiety from non-verbal cues.
N.V.C in the S.C.W-service user dyad is also important for establishing and maintaining their relationship. Positive communication in the dyad is related to greater mutual empathy, rapport and trust. These processes, in turn, are related to service user compliance and to more positive outcomes for the service user.
According to Ambady & Rosenthal (Rosenthal, 1998) there are four basic channels of communication, including the face, body, gestures and voice. The face is one of the most expressive channels of communication, particularly for expressing emotions. Emotional expression occurs primarily through changes in the mouth, eyebrows, cheek and eye muscles, pupil dilation and the amount and direction of gaze.
Bodily expression occurs through hand and arm gesturing, position, posture and angle of the body, positioning of the arms and legs. The study of positioning and orientation of the body in relation to other people or the physical environment is called Proxemics.
Gestures that supplement or clarify speech are called illustrators. They help in communicating messages by giving a visual clarification, for example, pointing to an object. Gestures that can replace speech and have direct verbal meanings are called emblems. An example of an emblem would be the thumbs-up sign.
The voice expresses emotions and feelings through pitch, speed, rhythm, intonation, range and volume.
Information from these four areas forms and conveys distinct impressions. E.g., a smile, direct gaze, a forward lean, and a warm vocal tone all taken together convey interest and liking. However, direct gaze and forward lean, without the smile and warm tone, taken together might convey dominance or intimidation.
A very important area of knowledge in N.V.C for S.C.W’s is that of deception. Deception is the expression of behaviour that is inconsistent with the true thoughts and feelings of the encoder (Rosenthal, 1998). In certain situations, such as for the purpose of self-presentation, deceptive behaviour is considered socially acceptable. E.g. it is acceptable or indeed expected, for employment interviewees to appear confident, although they might actually feel the opposite. In other situations, such as when people are self serving lies, deception is widely held to be unacceptable.
When lying, people tend to direct more attention to managing their facial expressions then to managing their vocal or bodily behaviours; they tend to move their face, head and body less than when not lying. Moreover, when lying, people show more mismatch between channels. Deception is typically detected at rates slightly higher than chance, although situational factors such as the relationship between the person lying can increase the accuracy of detecting
deception.
N.V.C is extremely important in affecting service user’s outcomes in social care settings. N.V.C in the service user- social worker relationship is dynamic, interactive and reciprocal. S.C.W’s non verbal behaviours affect service user’s behaviours and vice versa. This social influence process often occurs through subtle and unconscious cues and can have profound consequences for the social worker-service user relationship and service user outcomes.