Emotional Needs
People sometimes have emotional needs from the situations they are put in, for example being anxious or depressed. Some service users may lack self-awareness or appear to be shy or aggressive, which can make carers not listen or not give enough information to the service users to avoid awkward situations.
Some examples of why emotional needs can create barriers are because service users can be/feel:
- Sleep Deprived
- Frustrated
- ‘On Edge’, Agitated
- Suicidal
- Overly Emotional
-
Shy or Aggressive
- Unappreciated
Many emotional needs come from not being able to move up a level in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Everyone has basic emotional needs, and to have these catered to you have to be able to escalate through the 5 stages of the Hierarchy of Needs.
Learning Disabilities
People with learning disabilities generally have difficulty with speaking, listening, reading, writing, spelling, reasoning or organizing information. This can make it hard to have effective communication between people. Some learning disabilities that you are likely to come across in health and social care is ADHD, Aspergers, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down’s Syndrome and Dyslexia. These range from having brain damage to not being able to read and write. Dyslexia can restrict people from not being able to fill in forms, follow direction signs amongst other things that can affect them in Health Care.
Preferred Language
People aren’t always from the same background in Health and Social Care, which means the language that they use, may be very different from you own. This means that to meet their needs, there would need to be someone who speaks the same language as them to make sure the service user gains a complete understanding. It can also help that the translator is from the same area as the service user, as accents may come through when speaking their language, making it harder for them to identify certain words or mix words up.
Environment
The environment that you are in can affect the communication, preventing someone from getting information that they require. To try to communicate with people you have to be able to clearly see and hear what they are saying, so if you are in a crowded or noisy room, it can affect the information that gets transferred from one person to another. Noisy rooms can also affect hearing aids because they amplify everything including background sounds.
Support for communication needs available:
Advocates
An advocate is someone that speaks on behalf of someone else if they cannot or are not allowed to speak from themselves. For example, a lawyer is an advocate for their client in the courtroom. In health and social care, an advocate may speak on behalf of someone that suffers with a learning disability or something like Alzheimer’s or dementia. The main goal of an advocate is to make sure that a person’s basic needs are cared for and that everyone is treated equally. It can be a hard job, as you have to understand the persons exactly feelings and beliefs to be able to argue their cause and not let your own personal morals, values and ethics interfere. (Stretch, B, Whitehouse, M. 2007)
Speech Therapists
Speech therapists help people with speech, language or communicational problems ranging from learning difficulties to neurological issues. (Stretch, B, Whitehouse, M. 2007) They work with people of all ages, from children to adults, assessing and developing improvement plans incorporating close family and friends to help their speech. (Higher Education Careers Professionals. 2007)
Counsellors
Counsellors use psychology and communication to help them understand their client’s problems by listening to them and supporting and change or development in their life. Many counsellors help people with problems such as drugs and alcohol dependency and self harming confidentially, whilst offering their respect, empathy and time. (Stretch, B, Whitehouse, M. 2007)
Sign Language, Braille and Makaton
Sign language is quite a common form of communication to come across in Health and Social care, with alot of hearing impaired or mute people using it as their first language. It has its own grammar and is communicated through facial expressions, hand and arm gestures and mouthing the word.
Braille is a form of communication that is used by visually impaired people to help the read and write. It is a cell made of 6 dot positions in a rectangular shape, with 2 rows of 3 positions that raised bumps are put to make a letter, number or punctuation mark.
Makaton is a form of communication that combines gestures, symbols and sounding words. It is used to help and encourage people with learning difficulties to use speech and language effectively. It can help improve people cognitive and articulation problems such as Cerebral Palsy, Down’s Syndrome and Autism. (Wikipedia, 2008)
Technologies
To communicate to a person when they have a specific need, technology can be helpful to make it quick and thorough, not skipping corners. There is a wide range of technologies that can assist communication including:
- Large writing displays
- Text reading software
- Cochlear implant
- Hearing Aids
Cochlear Implant is a transmitter that is worn behind the ear and has small electrodes implanted under the skin. It is designed to rouse the auditory nerve (how we hear) and can assist people who are hearing impaired. It cannot give perfect hearing but gives a feeling of sound that improves over time. It helps people that were born with hearing but lost it through an accident or illness more than people that were born deaf. These are similar to hearing aids, as they increase the quality of hearing for that person.
References
Websites
Higher Education Careers Professionals. (2007). Speech and Language therapist: Job Description and Activities. Available: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Explore_types_of_jobs/Types_of_Job/p!eipaL?state=showocc&pageno=1&idno=130. Last accessed 25 Jan 2009.
OOZE. (). Foreign Fingers. Available: http://www.ooze.com/finger/html/foriegn.html. Last accessed 25 Jan 2009.
Wikipedia. (2008). Makaton. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makaton. Last accessed 25 Jan 2009.
Books
Stretch, B, Whitehouse, M (2007). BTEC National Health and Social Care Book 2. Oxford: Heinemann.
