barriers to communication

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Introduction

I am going to investigate the difference in social interactions in different care settings, which have service users of different age range.

For my investigation I have decided to go into an educational care setting; this is Redfield edge primary schools reception class which has got children from the age of 5-11 years olds. I thought this was a good choice as in a nursery there might be barriers to communication; as the children may not be able to speak at a good level.

I also plan to also use Capable care which is an elderly residence as a care setting to investigate interaction which are; both group and one to one.

I am going to investigating aspects of the care value base, these are:  

  • equality in care practise
  • peoples rights
  • respect for diversity , choice
  • Anti discriminatory practice and absence of stereotyping due to disability, health of mind / physical state or Place of origin
  •  Right to confidentiality and privacy
  • Support and help.

 

Transmission of values also will be demonstrated part of my coursework these are:

  • establishing and keeping relationships
  • getting to know the service user and showing empathy and sympathy
  • Promoting the person to establish and personal unique identity for their selves.
  • Indicating  awareness of needs (PIES)
  • Praise
  • Encouragement to support
  • Giving the user choice and preference.
  • Respecting the person and respecting their self worth and acknowledging their self esteem needs during the conversation.

I am going to investigate these aspects of the care value base I already knew that these factors will be different in a one to one interaction and a group interaction, as I will be dealing with a lot more people in group situations and it may be hard for me to transmit values to everyone in the group. Also other peoples rights may be compromised as part of another persons rights.

I am working with different age groups as well and they will react differently to the two interactions that I will be doing with them. This is because each of the different age groups have a different levels of understanding and this may become a barrier, age differences between me and the service user.

Before I started my interaction I got some advice on abuse and protection at the two different care setting I got told that the primary school had a document “”, I also took my time out to read a little more about this online. In order for this to happen I would need to make a member of the management aware of the abuse taking place and they will investigate it and see if its serious and if so they will contact social services and they will also record marks of physical abuse and they will also record some of the information that the child has given them.  In the elderly home they have a similar type of procedure.

Abuse can be :

  • : e.g. Hitting , hurting them on the physical context (*)
  • : e.g. screaming and manipulating them with words making(*) them feel bad
  • : e.g. stealing money (* but mainly in $)
  • : e.g. ,making someone to take part in any sexual activity without his or her consent (*)
  • : e.g. not paying them enough attention, not feeding them  (*)
  • : e.g. denying the civil rights to someone who may be mentally / physically impaired. (*)
  • : e.g. the person injuries or has intention of causing their selves harm. Like not eating food (*)

Key :

  • * - it can happen in a primary school and nursing home
  • $ - can only happen in elderly home
  • & can happen in primary school only.

One to one interaction

I went into Capable care residence and I reached there around dinner time, I got told to help hand out the trays and check that everyone is happy and eating their meals. As I was walking around I saw a man sitting down and I said “hi”, I also asked about his day and how he was feeling. Later on in the conversation I asked if he would allow me to use our conversation for an assignment I was doing; he agreed. I also made him aware that the conversation was going to be noted. Finally I told him I was looking forward to our conversation. I also kept his name anonymous to respect his privacy. Its part of the Data protection act (1998) to keep clients personal information confidential, although his name is not that relevant to this but the nature of the conversation we might have may meant that he will disclose information to me that may need to be kept confidential. Also Caldecott principles states that there needs to protection of patient identifiable information.

During our brief conversation; he dropped his watch on the floor and looked like he was having trouble picking the watch up, so I approached him and asked if he was okay and our conversation began. I let John pick his own watch up by doing this I was encouraging independence and supporting him to be independent. It could have also become an potential barrier if john had thought that I was trying to insult his ability to do things for himself, he may even see himself being stereotyped which could have affected the nature of the conversation we were having i.e. how pleasant he was to me.

Before I went in to John’s room I made sure that the lighting was at a good level; so his eyes don’t hurt from the bright light or the dim light, it can also be a distraction. Also so he could pick up on non verbal body language, such as facial expressions better.

 I also cleared up a few pieces of rubbish off the floor and made some space or me to crouch at his level. So there is no authority figure hanging over him, this also showed that I  was showing that we were both in power at the same level in the conversation, so therefore we could have a much more informal interaction but still very professional. I made sure that he had enough space without me invading his interpersonal space, there for she feels relaxed during the conversation. I made sure that before I came to the nursing home that I wasn’t dressed in a way that would make me a victim of prejudice & stereotyping so I dressed and made my personal appearance look as plain as possible. I kept make up to a minimum and I wore a simple pair of jeans with a plan top. I also made my tattoo was covered as I know Muslims see it as a sin to have tattoos done and this may mean that they may not want to talk to me because of this and also to show my understanding of cultural differences and misunderstandings.

I also felt that my age was a barrier during the conversation with John, I found it strange when John said that he wished he was 10 years younger and I felt as though there was not really any words I could say to show my sympathy for John. So I resorted using paralinguistic skills and keeping my facial expression in a way that showed interest so by just smiling and sometimes expanding the size of my smile for a sign of connection between us this was only done when he looked at me and I could not use verbal language to connect with him. Albert Meharain (1960) said that communication is : 7% verbal, 55 come from facial expressions and 38% comes from paralinguistic skills – this is the way that people use verbal communication like the pitch and tone, ect . according to wikipedia, Paralanguage refers to the  elements of

I stood about 60 cm apart from John when I approached him as I thought he may feel uncomfortable with me standing too close too him so soon after our first meeting and without me knowing him. I also used a normal tone and pitch of voice at first because John seamed to be very able in his hearing. After the first couple of sentences I realised that john was having difficulty hearing what I wanted to say to him. So I changed my tone of voice and pitch made it higher so that he can hear better, I repeated “My names Kia what about yours?” again for him. Here I made sure that he didn’t misinterpret what I had said so I repeated this in a clearer manner.

Here the communication cycle at this point went like this: I sent a verbal message “My names Kia what about yours” and then John didn’t see and hear – receive the message had to be resent using adapting one of my paralinguistic skills – pitch tone and volume. Then I resent the message and john heard it and understood it and said

 “What a lovely name, I never heard of it before, well my names not as good as yours its John”; this is where he sends his own message.

At times in the conversation when John was telling me about his wife and thing that I need to reflect upon I use the aid of silence to think about what he told me and give him time to recover and get his breath back and not get any more upset than he already was by me asking too many questions and invading his right to privacy. I ensured I empathised with him on a level that would not be too much or too little as I had to take in consideration that I did not know him that well to get into a personal conversation with him.

I used Eagan (1986) the SOL ER acronym.  I maintained good eye contact by crouching down to John level of eye contact,  stayed relaxed and leant slightly towards him with an open posture; there for not crossing my arms. All this meant that John will have a good self worth as he will acknowledge that I am interested in his conversation.

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Maslow, A. (1970) his pyramid of needs goes in the order of importance; these are: physiological Needs – “very basic needs such as air, water, food, sleep, sex”

  • These needs would have been meet by the residence providing all of the above needed.
  • It would have also been met through me adjusting the lighting and the warmth and making sure that the environment is suitable for us to hold a conversation in without getting disrupted and the nature of the conversation being affected by such barriers as lighting. With these diversity can be respected, individuals rights to choice and ...

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Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

This is a good essay but I do not feel that it meets the title, which is about the care value base and promoting it within a workplace. The writer discusses some interaction and has included some excellent theory. However, it focuses around communication, which is not what the care value base always is. There are lots of places where the essay could be extended with further explanation. To discuss the care value base, I think that the writer would have to consider the wider environment and not just a conversation. ****