Argyles (1972) communication cycle is a structure that was thought up about how we like communicate with other people. It suggests that we aim of how we will say things and what we want to say as well as what we want the other person to do with that information that’s been passed on. This is the stage in which we think a lot about how we will communicate the information and to who we wish to communicate it with. Once we have thought out what we want to say and say it to, we have to consider social influences and other things that may ‘change’ what we want to say. This is the ‘Encoding’ stage. The next stage is vital for successful communication, this stage is the transmission stage we need to be able to transmit the message that we wish to communicate in the right format and at the correct time. When we receive the information from that person we need to consider that it is much easier for the speakers words to get muddled up with other thoughts and distractions, this stage is called ‘Receiving’. The next stage in the communication cycle is called ‘Decoding’, if the sender has transmitted the information correctly and has given enough attention to what they saying including their body language and tone of voice, then you should be able to decode the message effectively. The last stage in the communication cycle is ‘Responding’ this gives the receiver the chance to ask any questions and also givers the sender a chance to see if they have missed out on any stages of the communication cycle.
Belbin‘s (1981) communication theory helps to explain effective communication because Belbin believes that everyone has different roles in the team in order to have successful communication
The first role was the co-ordination who were needed to focus on the team’s objectives, draw out team members and delegate work appropriately, the second was the innovator/ plant they tend to be highly creative and good at solving problems in unconventional ways. The third was the resource investigator who provides inside knowledge on the opposition and made sure that the team’s idea would carry to the world outside the team. The fourth would be the sharper’s who provide the necessary drive to ensure that the team kept moving and did not lose focus or momentum. The fifth would be the monitor evaluator is fair and logical observers and judges of what is going
on in the team. Since they are good at detaching themselves from bias, they are often the ones to see all available options with the greatest clarity and impartiality. They take a broad view when problem-solving
, and the last one would be the team worker who help the team to gel, using their versatility to identify the work required and complete it on behalf of the team.
A different theorist to Belbin who is also connected to effective communication is Tuckman (1977) who came up with the theory of effective communication with a group. The Forming-Storming-Norming and Performing the model of group development. Forming means that the group is physically been formed and a task has been set. The storming stage is the necessary stage in growth of the team; it is the stage in which different ideas compete for consideration .Norming within a group means eventually beginning to work together using effective communication. And finally Performing means that the group finishes and complete that the task was set. This works well in groups which in result effective communication are being used.
M1
Assess the role of effective communication and interpersonal interaction in health and social care
The role of an effective communicator in the health care setting is to ensure that clients are treated in a holistic, caring and professional manner. We communicate in this manner to enable clients and staff is fully informed to build trust and relationships in the caring setting.
As well as using good effective communication get used in the health and social care setting, using different theories can help aid people to use effective communication.
A barrier to communication is something that keeps meaning from the meeting The barriers to effective communication are environmental I.e. furniture, temperature, noise and music, language barriers, deaf, speech or swallowing difficulties ,diseases i.e. carcinoma of the face, neck, throat or stroke, not making eye contact and the use of slang words.
Belbin (1981) theory aids effective communication as it says that everyone has a role in communicating in a team which when comes together should become effective as the team becomes balanced because teams can become unbalanced when everyone in that team have similar styles or behavior or team roles which would then implement good effective communication.
Argyle(1972) aids effective communication because in order to have effective communication you need could not miss a stage in this cycle as then you would not be able to receive the right communication as you might misunderstand it or decode it wrong due to a number of factors such as the environment and skipping a stage .
When the communication cycle is effective, it can be used really well in the health and social care setting such as if you try and communicate with a deaf or partially deaf person would have to message code what they would want to say in a different way rather using their voice. The individual would need to have to think about either using sign language, or pictures or trying to lip read, so that they get the code of their message gets across to the client. After this has been done the message should have received effectively , hopefully after this the individual should be able to understand the message that has just been sent, which shows the communication cycle working effectively.
These theories work well within the health and social care setting when the careers are able to understand how they work and being able to use effective communication. So in the future when dealing with different situations they would be able to use effective communication.
If theories are not put into place when communicating with others in the health and social care setting this could cause a breakdown in communication
Another role of the effective communicator is being empathetic as a conveying empathy is part of establishing and strengthening relationships with patients as patients talk to your they may express with or without words feelings they have not consciously acknowledged . These feelings are crucial to understanding their illnesses and to establish a trusting relationship with a health care worker. Empathy can also be non -verbal for example offering a tissue to a crying patient when being a empathetic communicator it is important to responds correctly to what the patients feeling.
Group communication is very common in the health and social care sector. This is largely because care professionals tend to work in teams and in partnership with service users and their families.
Groups can also limit the effectiveness of communication if the group loses sight of its main goal or purpose, drifting into a pattern of ineffective activity that doesn’t have a real benefit or outcome, people can also find it hard to speak and contribute effectively or to challenge aspects of the group’s thinking or practices. This can lead to poorly thought-out, unquestioned decisions being made. Also power struggles and battles break out within the group, resulting in a loss of purpose and effectiveness.
However benefits of group communication groups can improve decision-making and problem-solving because they draw on the knowledge and skills of a number of people, a group can be an effective way of sharing responsibilities and also groups can also improve self-esteem, social skills and social awareness, especially when the group has a therapeutic goal.
P3
Explain factors that may influence communication and interpersonal interactions in health and social care environments
There are a variety of factors that influence communication such as environment, culture, values and beliefs, attitude, content, emotion and personality.
The environment has impact on communication because if the environment is quiet and not too noisy the people communicating will be able to hear each other and be able to understand what is being said if it is too noisy and a client or health care worker is hard of hearing this could lead to mis- communication and mistakes being made i.e. wrong medication being given.
Culture has an influence on the people communicating as they may come from as they come from different backgrounds, have different religions, ethnic origins, be of different gender and age. This can be seen in the health care setting when a muslin woman would not be able to talk to a male as this is against her religion.
Values and belief can also have an impact on communication as people can make their minds up about certain characteristics in people and stereotype them, for example when a health care worker is looking after a person with tattoos and piercing can stereotype the person as being rough and not potentially good communicator. This also can be seen when a older person is being cared for by a colored person, as the older person can be prejudiced and not communicate with the career.
People’s attitudes can affect communication as, for example an alcoholic may have a bad attitude against wanting to quit alcohol and not want to attend a support group and so miss out on the chance of help and support.
The way health care workers communicate content can be difficult and also sensitive at times, for example when a patient has a important health issue this needs to be broken to the patient in a caring, sensitive and in language that the patient under stands way.
Emotion can also influence communication as someone suffering from low self-esteem for example someone who is depressed may think that no one wants to communicate with them, making themselves unapproachable and not open to communication
Assignment 2
P4- explain strategies used in health and social care environments to overcome barriers to effective communication and interpersonal interactions
Barriers to communication can be affected by a number of factors like physical, cultural and emotional barriers. Physical barriers can include the environment, cultural is people’s beliefs and cultural and religious views and emotional barriers is people’s feelings at that time of moment.
There are many problems that can affect effective communication. These can include language barriers which could cause barriers to others who do not use the same jargon and buzz-words as well as expressions when we communicate with others it is polite to try and conform to how their language is spoken. strategies for overcoming language barriers in the health and social care are if the client does not speak English you will need to get a interpreter who will help interpret for you and also they can also give you cards with words and phrases on so that the health care professional can try and communicate so a certain degree without talking the language. Also if the client has hearing impairments it is important to speak slowly and clearly so that there is no misunderstanding, this may take more time but it is important that the client understands what they are being told. Another way to communicate with a deaf person could be to use cards or a video , or a sign language person.
The environment can also be a problem when trying to communicate with someone as it can affect a number of things such as the how we hear if we can’t hear what somebody else is saying we can’t communicate back to that person, so then we would have a communication breakdown. It can also affect how we see if the lighting is to bright we won’t be able to see the individual who is talking this could cause problems with individuals who are deaf as some individuals who are deaf or partly deaf may use lip reading and a form of trying to understand the person who is talking then communicating back and if they can’t see because of the light , they could start to misinterpret things, to try and overcome this barrier you should make sure that you are in a suitable environment for communicating so there is no misunderstanding and everyone can communicate and understand it. Argyle (1972) came up with the reflective cycle of communication which shows that right way to try and communicate with others and if you skip a stage in the cycle the communication could start to break down and all information that’s being passed on might not reach the individual and could be misheard.
Trying to have effective communication with other people who come from different cultures is difficult, as different cultures have different ways of thinking, hearing and interpreting the world. So different words can mean different things for other people in their culture. When languages are different, they use translation to try and communicate this can cause potential misunderstandings when being translated which could cause problems for both parties which would breakdown argyles (1972) communication cycle as the message would not get broken down and not decoded which means that the person receiving will not be able to receive the message which would not be effective communication. Some strategies to try and overcome cultural barriers in a health and social care setting could be using a translator.
M2
Review the strategies used to overcome barriers to effective communication and interpersonal interactions
In order to try and overcome barriers to effective and interpersonal interactions will be different for every person as everybody is different in understanding information also the environment you are in will also play a factor.
The person passing on the information needs to make sure that they have good effective communication because they might be passing on important valuable information about a client , so for the person receiving this information needs to be able to understand it when they receive it .
For Overcoming barriers in the environment you will use different solutions for each barrier as all barriers are not the same such as lighting and noise.
It is important that you feel comfortable in the environment that you are in and if you don’t you need to try and overcome this barrier as it is important to be in the right environment to be able to communicate effectively so that you are able to pass on information effectively without information getting misheard which can cause negative effects on both of the people communicating as they may find it difficult the overcome the breakdown of communication.
Overcoming barriers on the ability of an individual such as language.
The reality is that language and cultural barriers and misunderstandings can get in the way of effective communication and create complications in the workplace. Strategies to try and overcome this barrier may include getting a translator and to try and use gesticulation to try and help with words that they could understand. Trying to overcome a language barrier can be tough as some of these strategies could put a negative influence on the communication and interaction as they could give you the wrong information or not the right information when you need it due to misunderstanding communication , this could also be due to not understanding the same communication as the individual which can be caused by a number of reasons such as accent or foreign language which could take you longer to try and understand what you need to say it and how to say it in order to perform effective communication so that the right message is being put across.
However this can also be seen as a positive factor in communication as you can slowly to start to overcome the negative barriers which would stop individuals communicating with each other, by being able to effective communicate with each other . This means you are both able to develop your communication skills and abilities by communicating to each other.
Another barrier used to overcome barriers to effective communication is non-verbal communication. Communication that’s does not involve speech occurs continuously and provides important clues to feelings and emotions. Becoming more sensitive to nonverbal messages allows you to both ‘read the patient’ more effectively and to send messages of your own. You need to pay attention to eye contact, facial expressions, posture, head position and movement such as shaking or nodding.
Matching your position to the patient’s can be a sign of increasing understanding. Moving closer or engaging un physical contact (like placing your hand on the patients arm) which can convey empathy or help the patient gain control of feelings. Bringing nonverbal communication to the conscious level is the first step to bringing effective communication into the conversation.
