The Role Of Communication In Health And Social Care
Communication is the act of transferring information from one place to another in different ways which allows people to feel safe, build relationships and develop self-esteem (Skillsyouneed, No date). It means being able to convey information clearly and directly, giving appropriate levels of praise, advice and feedback (Chandler and Grzyb, 2001). Interpersonal skills are the skills we use daily to communicate with people which allows you to respond appropriately to the needs and feelings of other people (Skillsyouneed, No date). In simple terms it is treating people with respect, fairness and consistency (Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson 2010)
Communication takes place in many different contexts within Health and Social Care such as; one …show more content…
– to – one, groups, formally, informally, between professionals and people using the service, multi-agency etc. A one-to-one formal conversation would be between a professional and a professional, an informal one-to-one would typically be between a service user and a professional.
When having a one-to-one conversation it is important to create an emotional atmosphere before giving people information or discussing issue that may be sensitive. This is so the other individuals feel at ease, relaxed and happy when talking about the subject. To help the other person feel at ease and more welcoming the speaker may also smile to the listener. (Stretch and Whitehouse 2007).
A group discussion is similar to a one - to – one discussion but has a few added issues. In a group it is important that the right atmosphere is created so people feel comfortable talking to each other without feeling threatened by other people’s reactions. To encourage people to participate, humour is usually used to create the right atmosphere.
Informal communication is used amongst people who know each other pretty well, e.g. family and friends. People in certain groups have certain ways of speaking and so other people may not understand specific words. This can cause difficulty communicating with people from different social groups as it makes it very difficult for people to understand.
Within Health and Social Care there are lots of occasions where formal communication is involved. This type of communication is recognised by a wide range of people. It is used amongst colleagues, professionals and service users and even amongst professionals. They all have certain ways of communicating. Colleagues need to show that they are interested and that they care so will need to spend time on ‘phatic talk’ this is to make the other person feel welcome. Professionals and service users will have much more technical language that is added into their day to day vocabulary.
It is important for communication to be effective so service users and professionals can understand one another and help each other to deal with problems and queries. It is also important so that they can understand each other and complete tasks quickly (Stretch and Whitehouse 2007).
There are a number of different ways to communicate with people, from talking to someone face to face or on the phone, emailing, text messaging, artwork, written communication etc.
It is important that communication is done effectively as poor communication can make the service user feel worthless and vulnerable.
Communication can be split into two main groups, verbal and non-verbal. Verbal communication includes speech that can be changed by the tone and pitch. On the other hand, non-verbal communication includes things like; body posture, gestures, facial expressions and much more (Stretch and Whitehouse 2007).
Language is verbal communication and is one of the ways we communicate. Tone, pitch and speed all play a part in how the words we say are perceived. To make it even more confusing dialect, slang and jargon are added. Dialect is when words are pronounced in a certain way by people from certain place, for example Londoners will have a different dialect compared to those from the North of England. Social groups use slang; this is the use of informal words that are understood by a particular community and aren’t usually found in the dictionary. Verbal communication can be is probably the most common way we communicate, however we all have a different dialects and slang we use which helps us communicate effectively with specific …show more content…
people.
Non - verbal communication is basically communicating without the use of words.
Instead we use our eyes, hands, facial expressions, head angle, posture etc. Even from the way we sit and stand, our body is communicating. Most of the time our body sends messages to the other person without us even knowing such as, leaning back in a chair can send the message that you are relaxed; leaning forward can send the message that you are showing interest. As well as posture the way we move around can also communicate messages.
Facial expressions are an important part of non - verbal communication as they indicate our emotional states. This is done by facial muscles and the tension in the shoulder and neck, when a person is happy they will have wide eyes that make eye contact with you, a big smile and moving arms to show the excitement.
It is more than likely that other people will be able to recognise your emotions through non - verbal communication, however to communicate effectively you will need to understand how your non - verbal behaviour will impact others (Stretch and Whitehouse
2007).
Communication is not just about verbal and non-verbal communication it is also about listening. Listening is important because if someone is trying to tell you something and you don’t listen well, you can misunderstand what is being said and make a mistake. If you do listen it helps to communicate much more effectively. An example of what might happen if you don’t listen in a Health and Social Care situation; If a service user was talking to a professional about a problem they had and the professional wasn’t listening, this would not only make the professional look very ignorant and rude but also be a bigger problem if the professional had to leave notes and didn’t even know what problem the service user was facing causing the treatment being received to be awful.
Active listening is fully concentrating on the actual meaning of what is being said and not just passively ‘hearing’ what someone is saying (skillsyouneed, no date). This involves positive body posture, eye contact, paraphrasing, summarising, reflective listening but the most important aspect of all is concentration. Positive body posture, eye contact and concentration all show that you are interested in what the speaker has to say. The other aspects involved in actively listening are reflective listening, paraphrasing and summarising. Paraphrasing is when you explain what someone else has said to you in your own words (Purdue OWL, 2012). This is important because it shows that you were listening well enough to the person speaking and so would be able to explain it to another person. Summarising is when you briefly outline the main points (UNSW Australia, 2014). This is important when the main points only need to be highlighted. Reflective listening is another way of actively listening and works in 2 steps, the first step is to listen and understand what is being said, the second step is to use the communicate the ideas and thoughts to someone else. All these play an important part in successfully actively listening as otherwise it could be hard to understand the difference between what has been remembered and what has actually been understood.
Asking questions is a significant part of active listening, this is because it shows that the listener is paying attention to the speaker and would like to know more. In a health and social care environment when working with vulnerable service users, asking questions would be very important as not only does it show the professional cares but will also help assess the situation the service user is in.
There are a number of different types of questions that can be asked to gather information. Here are some of them; Open questions, closed questions, specific questions, probing questions, hypothetical questions, reflective questions and leading questions. All of these types of questions can be asked alone or together with more than one in order to get information together. Open questions start with either who, what, when and why and are useful in getting someone to speak. An example of this question would be “How are you feeling today?” (Doctor to patient). Closed questions are questions that only require a yes or no answer; this type of question is useful in checking facts. However these kinds of questions shouldn’t be used continuously in a health and social care environment as they can cause frustration and shut down a conversation. Probing questions
Communication takes place in many different contexts within Health and Social Care such as; one …show more content…
– to – one, groups, formally, informally, between professionals and people using the service, multi-agency etc. A one-to-one formal conversation would be between a professional and a professional, an informal one-to-one would typically be between a service user and a professional.
When having a one-to-one conversation it is important to create an emotional atmosphere before giving people information or discussing issue that may be sensitive. This is so the other individuals feel at ease, relaxed and happy when talking about the subject. To help the other person feel at ease and more welcoming the speaker may also smile to the listener. (Stretch and Whitehouse 2007).
A group discussion is similar to a one - to – one discussion but has a few added issues. In a group it is important that the right atmosphere is created so people feel comfortable talking to each other without feeling threatened by other people’s reactions. To encourage people to participate, humour is usually used to create the right atmosphere.
Informal communication is used amongst people who know each other pretty well, e.g. family and friends. People in certain groups have certain ways of speaking and so other people may not understand specific words. This can cause difficulty communicating with people from different social groups as it makes it very difficult for people to understand.
Within Health and Social Care there are lots of occasions where formal communication is involved. This type of communication is recognised by a wide range of people. It is used amongst colleagues, professionals and service users and even amongst professionals. They all have certain ways of communicating. Colleagues need to show that they are interested and that they care so will need to spend time on ‘phatic talk’ this is to make the other person feel welcome. Professionals and service users will have much more technical language that is added into their day to day vocabulary.
It is important for communication to be effective so service users and professionals can understand one another and help each other to deal with problems and queries. It is also important so that they can understand each other and complete tasks quickly (Stretch and Whitehouse 2007).
There are a number of different ways to communicate with people, from talking to someone face to face or on the phone, emailing, text messaging, artwork, written communication etc.
It is important that communication is done effectively as poor communication can make the service user feel worthless and vulnerable.
Communication can be split into two main groups, verbal and non-verbal. Verbal communication includes speech that can be changed by the tone and pitch. On the other hand, non-verbal communication includes things like; body posture, gestures, facial expressions and much more (Stretch and Whitehouse 2007).
Language is verbal communication and is one of the ways we communicate. Tone, pitch and speed all play a part in how the words we say are perceived. To make it even more confusing dialect, slang and jargon are added. Dialect is when words are pronounced in a certain way by people from certain place, for example Londoners will have a different dialect compared to those from the North of England. Social groups use slang; this is the use of informal words that are understood by a particular community and aren’t usually found in the dictionary. Verbal communication can be is probably the most common way we communicate, however we all have a different dialects and slang we use which helps us communicate effectively with specific …show more content…
people.
Non - verbal communication is basically communicating without the use of words.
Instead we use our eyes, hands, facial expressions, head angle, posture etc. Even from the way we sit and stand, our body is communicating. Most of the time our body sends messages to the other person without us even knowing such as, leaning back in a chair can send the message that you are relaxed; leaning forward can send the message that you are showing interest. As well as posture the way we move around can also communicate messages.
Facial expressions are an important part of non - verbal communication as they indicate our emotional states. This is done by facial muscles and the tension in the shoulder and neck, when a person is happy they will have wide eyes that make eye contact with you, a big smile and moving arms to show the excitement.
It is more than likely that other people will be able to recognise your emotions through non - verbal communication, however to communicate effectively you will need to understand how your non - verbal behaviour will impact others (Stretch and Whitehouse
2007).
Communication is not just about verbal and non-verbal communication it is also about listening. Listening is important because if someone is trying to tell you something and you don’t listen well, you can misunderstand what is being said and make a mistake. If you do listen it helps to communicate much more effectively. An example of what might happen if you don’t listen in a Health and Social Care situation; If a service user was talking to a professional about a problem they had and the professional wasn’t listening, this would not only make the professional look very ignorant and rude but also be a bigger problem if the professional had to leave notes and didn’t even know what problem the service user was facing causing the treatment being received to be awful.
Active listening is fully concentrating on the actual meaning of what is being said and not just passively ‘hearing’ what someone is saying (skillsyouneed, no date). This involves positive body posture, eye contact, paraphrasing, summarising, reflective listening but the most important aspect of all is concentration. Positive body posture, eye contact and concentration all show that you are interested in what the speaker has to say. The other aspects involved in actively listening are reflective listening, paraphrasing and summarising. Paraphrasing is when you explain what someone else has said to you in your own words (Purdue OWL, 2012). This is important because it shows that you were listening well enough to the person speaking and so would be able to explain it to another person. Summarising is when you briefly outline the main points (UNSW Australia, 2014). This is important when the main points only need to be highlighted. Reflective listening is another way of actively listening and works in 2 steps, the first step is to listen and understand what is being said, the second step is to use the communicate the ideas and thoughts to someone else. All these play an important part in successfully actively listening as otherwise it could be hard to understand the difference between what has been remembered and what has actually been understood.
Asking questions is a significant part of active listening, this is because it shows that the listener is paying attention to the speaker and would like to know more. In a health and social care environment when working with vulnerable service users, asking questions would be very important as not only does it show the professional cares but will also help assess the situation the service user is in.
There are a number of different types of questions that can be asked to gather information. Here are some of them; Open questions, closed questions, specific questions, probing questions, hypothetical questions, reflective questions and leading questions. All of these types of questions can be asked alone or together with more than one in order to get information together. Open questions start with either who, what, when and why and are useful in getting someone to speak. An example of this question would be “How are you feeling today?” (Doctor to patient). Closed questions are questions that only require a yes or no answer; this type of question is useful in checking facts. However these kinds of questions shouldn’t be used continuously in a health and social care environment as they can cause frustration and shut down a conversation. Probing questions