The role of effective communication and interpersonal interactions in health and social care settings

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Emily Sawyer

health and social care – level 3

the role of effective communication and interpersonal interactions in Health and Social care settings

emily sawyer
unit 1, p1, P2 & m1


Contents page

margaret stern

 

contexts        

one-to-one        

groups        

informal        

formal        

verbal        

non-verbal        

communication between colleagues        

communication between professional people and people using services        

multi-agency working        

multi-professional working        

communication forms        

text messaging        

oral        

signing        

touch        

technology        

interpersonal Interactions        

speech & language (slang, j argon etc)        

non verbal        

communication and Language Needs and Preferences        

individual preferred method of communication        

Argyles Communication Cycle Stages        

Tuckman’s Stages Of Group Interaction        

four stages of group development        


contexts

Communication is a major part in all of our lives. There are many
different methods of communication and we are gaining more and more all
the time.

one-to-one

One-to-one communication means one person communicating with another person without anybody else joining in or interrupting. In any conversation; it is important to create the right feeling by being friendly and showing both interest and respect for the other person. The conversation needs three main components; a start (hi, hello, good morning etc) a middle (the conversation context, when you both discuss what you need to talk about) and an ending (bye, see you later, have a good day).

Whilst engaging in one-to-one communication in Health and Social Care, the service provider should use open questions; these give the service users a chance to talk for a longer amount of time, which can convey different and more useful information which is a bit different to one word responses.

groups

People belong to many different groups of people which include friends, family and work groups. The communication skills that we use in group contexts are different from those that we use in one-to-one situations. Group communication is a lot harder because it only works properly if everybody has the opportunity to be involved and this means that people have to learn to make compromises and know when to take their turn when it comes to the both aspects of speaking and listening. In most groups, there are people who speak a lot and others who don’t like to speak up and be heard, because they are shy and feel uncomfortable talking in front of a group of people. Communication in groups can sometimes be difficult for the members as it can be competitive where a few members will try to control the discussion. To prevent this from happening, one member of the group sometimes naturally becomes the leader of the conversation and will both help people have a turn to express their ideas and encourage everybody to have a say in turn. This relates to a child’s nursery as many team leaders and workers in the nursery will try to engage the children in group activities as it will involve all of the children in the session.

informal

Informal communication is usually used between people who know each other reasonably well, like friends and family. It is most likely to start with an easy going greeting (“Hiya, how are you?”) Also, in some places it is common to call people pet names, for example love, darling, sweetie even if they have just met the person. People usually tend to communicate more informally with friends, family and people that they work with on a regular day-to-day basis. This relates top health and social care as workers may become friendly with regular clients and get to know them particularly well. Not only this, but some clients may prefer to have a more informal conversation with the staff as they may find it easier to get along with them.

formal

Formal communication starts with a greeting that is very polite, but also gets straight to the point. “Good morning Mrs. Potter. How are you feeling today?” is a good example as it is most commonly used in situations where respect needs to be shown. Formal conversation is normally used when a professional person, such as a health or social care worker speaks to the service user because it is clear, correct, avoids misunderstanding and still manages to be polite and respectful. Communication with workers in a higher position than yourself tends to be formal as they are in a more respected position than yourself and need to show you look up to them and have a high opinion of their position.  

verbal

To communicate verbally, you must use words to present your ideas, thoughts and feelings. You must be able to both explain and present your ideas in a concise way through spoken words and you also need to be able to listen to people carefully and fully digest what they are telling you. Also, to be a good verbal communicator, you need to know what type of language is appropriate and suitable in different circumstances. People usually tend to unconsciously make changes to the language that they use because they know that it will be either unsuitable or not understood by the person that they are speaking to. Another key element of effective verbal communication is use of the appropriate tone and pace of your voice, because it’s not only important to remember what you say, but also how you say it. You need to speak at a steady pace, in a suitable tone so that you can deliver your message in a clearer and easier way that will help the service user understand the message that you are trying to convey. This relates to health and social care as many different settings require the staff to explain to the user what medication they may need to take, what the dosage is of the medication that may be taken and when to take the dosage. If the wrong instructions are given, it can end in dire consequences.

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non-verbal

Non verbal communication is the way in which people interact with each other without talking. This may be through the use of body language, facial expression, posture, tone of voice, proximity, signs, symbols, pictures, object and/or other visual aids. You need to be able to read and recognize what people are telling you non-verbally as this can tell you a lot about the person and how they are feeling at any specific point.

There are many aspects of non-verbal communication, but the main one is body language. Body language shows true feelings and when somebody communicates verbally ...

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