Thinking through what you are going to say:
In formal groups it is important to thing through your points before sharing them with the whole group. When in a group the points you make should be clever and powerful points so that this prevents conversations from being time consuming. Usually when somebody is told to represent a group they are made to make points of what is going to be said. I.e. when an entrepreneur is told to talk about a business plan, in dragons den with a group of people. This could be hard sometimes because the entrepreneur has to remember facts and figures it’s like the conversation is rehearsed and if one thing goes wrong it is possible for the next thing to go wrong.
Taking turns:
There are many groups which have no group leader; if there is a group that has no group leader it is important for the people in group to know when to talk and to know when it is their turn to talk. When a speaker is finishing, they usually signal this by lowering their voice tone, slowing the pace of talking and looking around at other people in the group. The next person to talk knows that it is their turn by watching the eyes of other group members. Most of the time people within a group get carried away and usually start speaking at once this shows that everybody is talking and then nobody is listening to anyone else.
Use of space:
Group communication can be improved when people in a group can see other people’s face. Group communication is much harder when people are sitting in rows. When communicating in groups it is important for people to know when they should talk and looking at the impressions on other peoples faces allows you to know when you should start talking. If people sit in a circle then everyone can see everyone else’s face. You have to be able to understand the messages in other people’s face in order to know when to talk next.
How does this link to health and social care?
Group communication is a big deal for professionals, every day they may have a meeting in which they can talk about how the week is planned to go or the aims and objectives of the month. A person in this could be a head master of a school, he may talk to all the teachers and then allow any questions to be asked.
Speech and language: informal and formal communication
There are two types of communication informal and formal communication both can be used to talk to people politely.
Informal communication
People often use informal communication when they know people well, for example, with friends and family. There are some people that use words and phrases that other groups may not be able to interpret easily such as ‘’was sup’’ or ‘’ how’s it goin’ bro’?’’. These types of communication may feel friendly and welcoming within the same group but other groups from other places in the world may not be comfortable with the term ‘’was sup’’. It can be difficult to understand the informal communication of people from different social groups.
How does this link to health and social care?
Being in the middle of an informal conversation allows people to be relaxed. A health and social care worker may talk to a friend or a colleague in a informal manner, for example, a teacher would talk to the students formally, and may talk to their friends informally.
Formal conversation
Health and social care work often involves the need for formal communication. For example, if you opened the door to a door to door sales person, they might greet you with ‘’ good afternoon sir, is it alright if you can spare me 2minutes of you time please?’’. This formal communication might be understood by a wide range of people. The door to door sales person being able to greet the occupier of the house shows respect and shows that he will not be wasting time.
Sometimes it is often risky to use informal language unless too are sure that other people expect you to do so. If you are treated informally, you may interpret this as not being treated seriously, in other words ‘not being respected’ In day to day business conversations it is important that you are treated with respect or you would take the conversation or offer to be a ‘’joke’’.
You wouldn’t really feel respected if a door to door sales person was to knock on the door and say ‘’ bruv, this only gonna take 2mins init’’, if this is how a conversation started when you opened the door. First thought that would come to mind is ‘I shouldn’t have opened the door’, after this you wouldn’t really feel to listen, you’d make up an excuse so that you can shut the door on the salesmen because of how they greeted or started the conversation.
How does this link to health and social care?
A formal conversation can link by professionals in many different ways. Health and social care workers talk formally to people on a day to day basis it is apart of their job to understand how people feel and to understand how to greet others making them feel comfortable and welcome. If they were not to do this well enough they would show that they do not respect the person they are talking to.
Nonverbal communication
Non verbal communication, can tell somebody a lot about a person with out even talking to them, it allows people to understand others by judging them from eye contact, gestures and movement. You will be able to tell whether or not they are tired or rude.
Non verbal means ‘with out words’, so non- verbal communication is the messages that we send with out using words. We send messages using our eyes, the tone of our voice, our facial expression, our hands and arms, gestures with our hands and arms , the angle of our head, the way we sit or stand and the tension of our muscles.
All of the above allows somebody to judge how somebody feels. For example, if I saw somebody sitting alone and looked down, I’d ask ‘what’s wrong?’ I have guessed that something is wrong with my friend with out them saying anything to me; this is because of how I judged them from their body language. Many people judge others by the body language and it is important that people do not feel threatened when you walk past as they may think they have done something wrong or may not talk to you if they see you again because of the ‘’first impression’’ they were given.
How does this link to health and social care?
This can be interpreted to health and social care because a professional in sign language could be helping a deaf student learn something or they can be saying something to the student none verbally. The sign worker would, be able to understand how the student interprets by looking at their facial expressions.
Touch
Touching is another form of non-verbal communication, this is popular and allows people express many different feelings, touching is more of a feeling that can be adjusted, its something that may happen with out thought, or something that has been wanting to happen for a long time.
The problem with touch is that it can easily be misinterpreted. You might be trying to comfort someone by holding their hand but they may interpret this touch as an attempt to dominate. It Is always a good idea to ask if you can touch.
When people have had an argument with one and other and things get out of hand they tend to start hitting each other the reason for this is so that they can express their feelings they can show what they are feeling inside, for example a women may slap her partner, her partner will know how she feels. Another example could be two people fighting with each other, letting of steam. If someone is very tense their shoulders might stiffen, their face muscles might tighten and they might sit or stand rigidly. A tense face might have a firmly closed mouth with lips and jaws clenched tight. A tense person might breathe quickly and look hot.
There are many different types of feelings when being touched or touching, being sexually touched can allow two people to express feelings for each other, also giving a pleasant hug to a friend shows a level of care.
How does this link to health and social care?
This links because a professional vet may be wanting to teach a dog how to sit or how to be quite, the vet may use facial expression to show that they are angry at the dog a typical facial expression would be the vets eye’s fully expanded. This will make the dog feel they have done something wrong. If the dog is listening and doing what they are being told the vet may stroke the dog, which shows care and love.
Written communication
Written communication was very popular, and has declined majorly now. The reason for this is because of technology. Written communication is still active thought, it allows people to communicate with each other, with out looking at facial expressions or the sense of their voice.
Written communication has to be clearly written so that the reader knows exactly what each word says as they may get misinterpreted. Another point is that, the use of grammar is crucial when reading. If the writer is angry they may express their feelings by writing a normal sentence, with out them showing they are angry. For example. ‘’how can you do this again’’, This can be read easily but may leave the reader confused because there is no question mark in the question and also the reader doesn’t know if the writer is angry or not.
‘’How can you do this again?’’. This may be a general question for example, I want to print of a document and it has failed to print how can I do this again?. This doesn’t show that the writer is angry and seems as if they are asking a general question.
‘’How can you do this again?!’’. This phrase shows that the writer has emphasised on the phrase it should be read out with a sense of anger. It shows that the writer may be a little bit fed up and annoyed.
‘’HOW CAN YOU DO THIS AGAIN?!?!’’. This phrase shows that the writer is really angry and the reader should be reading it and realising that he is being shouted at. The writer may be fed up, annoyed and angry, the reason you can tell this is because of the capital letters it shows that the writer is trying to speak out loud, and the repetition of explanation marks ‘!!’ shows that the writer is angry.
How does this link to health and social care?
This links because a teacher may be writing a letter home to student’s parents, explaining how they have not been attending school. Parents are normally working at peak times as well as teachers and therefore may not be able to contact them at home. Sending a letter means that the parent can read it in their spare time, and help the student understand what the letter is about.
Various between cultures and languages
Some people grow up in a different environment and they interpret different gestures to mean different things.
Non verbal signs vary from culture to culture for example,
How is this linked to health and social care?
Firstly, because of different cultures and different interpretations of when people grew up in different cultures, symbols may have the same gesture but may mean a different thing. The sort of people that would use this is a care worker that is trying to teach a child something who doesn’t understand English.
The phonetic alphabet
The Phonetic Alphabet is used to spell out letters in place of just saying the letter itself. By using a word for each letter there is less chance that the person listening will confuse letters. For instance, some letters that can easily be confused are "D" and "B". Using the phonetic alphabet, "Delta" and "Bravo" can be easily distinguished. The phonetic alphabet is also for people who have accents they may use this on a daily basis, or more than others, simply because their accents may be misinterpreted easily.
How is this linked to health and social care?
The police mainly use the phonetic alphabet this is because, police officers can be from different religions and may have different accents and therefore, they may not be heard easily over the ‘’walkie talkies’’ for the reason that the walkie talkies are low quality.
I have now explained a few types of communication that social workers would use on a day to day basis. I will show a dialogue between two people showing what type of communication it is and how it has been interpreted.
Girl: hi, thank you for coming today
Social care worker: Sure, no problem. How are you coping?
Girl: I’m fine thank you, just my little brother seems to be getting on my nerves
Social care worker : That’s what little brother are for believe me I have one my self a and he is a handful.
Girl : HA HA
Social care worker : ‘’Right, now basically let me get my papers out, and let’s talk about how you will solve you issue about you mother and father divorcing. I have brought you these booklets that you can read in you spare time, it tells you about how people normally cope when their parents have split. I have also brought you these numbers that you can call if at anytime you feel uncomfortable.’’
Girl : ‘’Right, thank you very much for these booklets, I just want to get over the whole thing I get really angry with my mother and father breaking up, just the thought of it makes me cry, I’m sorry!’’
Social care worker: ‘’There’s nothing to apologies for, I understand exactly how you feel I have been in you exact position when I was a young girl my self. I had no – one to talk to back then that is why I want to help you as much as I can. So please call me and stay in touch with me if there’s anything I can do for you’’
Social care worker: ‘’ is there anything else I can help you with today?
Girl: ‘’ no, you have been the best of help I’ve had in ages thank you ever so much, I will be sure to call you back and book an appointment for another vist’’
Social care worker: ‘’sure, no problem I’m just a phone call away, so what are you going to be getting up to in the summer holiday?’’
Girl: ‘’ well, my friends did say they wanted to go to the park and swimming’’
Social care worker: ‘’ Well make sure you enjoy yourself, and smell the beautiful flowers at the park, and I should see you very soon, please keep in touch
Girl: ‘’ Thank you very much, for all your help, bye!’’
Social care worker: ‘’ Take care sweetheart’’
Health and social care workers need to deal with many different situations on a daily basis, it is important they make sure of all the resources they have in order to make other feel comfortable and happy. After people have spoken to a social care worker they may feel more wanted and alive and feel as if they got people to talk to. The way in which to communicate is very important for a social care worker, as they need to show they care by there physically and verbally.