Hearing
Hearing problems can have a negative influence on communication both in a care and in a community. If someone in a care home has a hearing problem in may be hard for them to start conversations with people around them or that they may not hear the conversation that going on around them. This could make the service user or resident scared to start conversations because they can’t hear their own voices and they lack confidence because they might talk too loud or too low for someone to hear them. Even though the resident or service user may be able to read the lips of people talking it might be hard for them to misinterpret what the person is saying. For example whilst the resident or service user is reading people lips and the person that is having the conversation said what the resident that has the difficulty hearing might misinterpret it as hat.
Strategies
There are different ways to overcome hearing difficulties. The service user or the resident could be given a fearing aid. Hearing aids are devices given to people who are deaf to allow them to hear. A hearing aid is an electroacoustic device which fits in or behind the ear, and it is designed to amplify and modulate sound for the person wearing it. Earlier devices, known as an "ear trumpet" or "ear horn", were a passive funnel like amplification cones designed to gather sound energy and direct it into the ear canal. Similar devices include the bone anchored hearing aid, and cochlear implant. . Members of staff have to make sure that the hearing aid is on the right setting at all tie to prevent there being a situation where the resident cannot hear properly or if they notice that the residents cannot hear properly they should make sure that they tune the hearing aid for the resident also the staff need to show the resident how to work the hearing aid in other for the resident to know how to do it when there are no staff around to help. The hearing aid is a good way to overcome the barrier because it would give the resident or service user the opportunity to hearing what people are say including themselves and it will also give them the confidence that they need to start a conversation also the conversation will not be misinterpreted so the conversation will be effectively communicated.
Seating
The way that we seat can affect the way that we communicate. At a residential home possibly in an activity room or in a meeting the way that we seat can affect the way we communicate. For example the service users are sitting in a line they will not be able to see each other in other to keep eye contact and to tell if someone has a question. Sitting in a line when having a meeting or an activity could have a negative effect on the way that people communicate because there will be a chance that they will talk over each other, and also they will not start conversations between themselves and they will not see if someone has finished talking through their body language. This could affect the barrier of communication.
Strategies
There are different ways to overcome the barrier of communication when in a meet or doing activities with the residents. When in a meeting it usually ideal for everyone if the staffs sit in a cycle that way they will be able to see each other clearly and can easily tell if the person talking has finished talking and if they can talk without interrupting anyone. When doing an activity with the resident it will be effective for them to communicate with the group that they are in so the show be sitting in groups around a table in a way that they can look at each other and communicate effectively when communicating with each other this will give them an opportunity to talk and have conversations between themselves.
Noise
Noise can influence the way that we communicate with each other in a care home a service user can be side tracked when there is a background sound when they are telling you something or complaining about a pain that they may have. For example when talking to someone a room where there is music playing it will be very hard for them to hear what you are saying so you would have to shout for them to hear you and if it is a private conversation it is possible that everyone will hear the conversation that you are try to have or that the conversation can be misinterpreted and misunderstood.
Strategies
There are different ways that the barrier of noise can be broken to improve the way that we communicate. When in a room where there is a loud noise and a service user is trying to communicate with a staff and is trying to have a private conversation there should be a change of since where the staffs takes the service provider in to a room where there is no music to talk to them this will be and effective way of communicating where there is noise.
To overcome communication barrier in an environment in relation to a health and social care setting there needs to be changes that helps either the service provider or the service user to adjust to the environment that they are in. there are lots environmental barriers that could affect the way that we communicate. There need to accommodate changes in vision to provide for example more light for the service user who are visually impaired to see where they are going when its dark and for them to see the faces of who they are talking to and the service provider should try not to stand too close so that they don’t get blurry and when talking to them the provider should stay in front of the person where they can see them. When the service user want something the service provider can make a colourful poster for sings or markers to communicate correctly where the place is located. Changes can also be accommodated to help the service users with hearing problems. For example if a service user has difficulty hearing and does not want a hearing aid, the service provider should make sure that when talking to the service user they are standing in front of them so that they can read their lips also there is shout and if the service provider needs to be louder they should try to lower their tone of voice and check regularly for earwax build-ups in the service providers eras also adding physical gestures to verbal cues can get make the communication process easier. If the service user is using a hearing aid there needs to be regular checks to see if they have their hearing aids in their eras and that the batteries are fresh, in addition to this there needs to be checks on the effect that the environment might have on the hearing aid for example checks to see if noises are interfering with the service providers attempt to communicate. When communicating with people in the care home there need to be a lot of consideration in the way that they communicate, service provider need to think about their approach and the language that they use whether formal or informal by using words that are familiar and frequently use and understandable and avoiding medical jargon and slangs, the service user need to be given time to answer the question that they have been asked because they have a slow reaction time and to be clear and avoid long and wordy explanations or instructions.
In a group interaction where we were placed into a group and the people in my group had to work together and listen to instruction in order to communicate effective the task that we were given to do. The task that we were given to do was to use our middle finger to hold on to a stick and get in over our head without dropping it. The leader of the group was standing in front of the three people and gave the instruction for one person each where holding the stick with their middle finger and another person standing in the middle holding the stick in with their middle finger as well. The leader of the group communicated the instruction well and we were able to balance the stick and get it over our head. The barriers at the start when the group was put together was that we did not know each other even though we were in the same class for three weeks but when the group got put together we talked amongst ourselves where we introduced ourselves and planned what we were going to do. And the strategies that the leader of the group came up with worked very well I think this was because we broke the barrier between ourselves where we introduced ourselves and got to know each other a little bit more than we did at the start of the cause and also this broke the tension that could have been in the group and possible could have compromised the task at hand and at the end of the task we were able to communicated effectively and we got the task done.
Overcoming barrier in communication is important in health and social care because effective communication is about how to find a better way of communicating with other people where it is to adjust to their way of communication or to find a better alternative of communication effectively to them because communication is only effective if it is communicated effectively.
Effective communications is important in health and social care because it allows service providers to facilitate a quality service for the service users. The service providers are expected to understand the needs and desires of the clients and to do this every barrier that affects the communication negatively should have an alternative way of having and effective communication. However a negative barrier communication for one person could be a positive way of communicating for another person for example where a service provider may find that picture on a wall distracts them from have a clear conversation when they take more interest in the place that the picture was taken rather than what the resident or the service user is trying to communicate but in what another service provider may find that pictures on a wall is a way of starting a conversation to try and find out what the resident or service user is trying to communicate and whilst trying to find the meaning to what they are communicating effecting. In relation to listening to a service user when they are talking, the service user should apply the principle of sensitive listening where they listen to the service provider without interrupting them and cutting them off and make sure that they listen to what they are saying and to listen for meaning in what they are trying to tell them to find the real problem in what they are saying. Also when a resident is talking to service provider the service provider should turn their full attention to what the resident is trying to say by doing this it give them a chance to listen carefully to what the residents are saying this should be done by slowing down on tasks that the service provider is doing and focusing on the resident, what she is saying and doing and communicating.
There are different ways to overcome the barrier in communication when in an environment that could distract you. For example when giving and interview that room in which the interview will held should not contain anything that could distract the person being interviewed and the temperature of the room should be fairly warm not too cold or hot. When talking to a resident or a service user they should be taken into a room where they is nothing to distract them however sometime s the environment that we are in can have an effective way of communication for example when a staff is in a service users room and does not know what to talk about they could start by asking a question about some of the picture in the service users room. Things that we can see in our surroundings can help the service users start a conversation with the service providers. However there are strengths and weaknesses to this strategy because not all the service user would like to
