What is communication and why is it important to us?

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Charlotte Walker                Communication

What is communication and why is it important to us?

Communication is a word used to describe messages that are passed between two or more people.  Communication is a complex process, in which we use many different ways to try and describe our message to the other people involved.  The people that are involved in any type of communication form a type of bond because both are trying to make sure that the other person understands them.  When communicating ideas and meanings we do it in many different ways such as verbally like speech and singing but also through non-verbal behaviours such as body language and eye contact.  You can think of communication in terms of a series of circles or levels.  There are several elements that need to be considered whilst trying to communicate with another person known as the three levels of influence.  The first level of influence is how we treat people as individuals and on a personal level, the communication environment is the second level of influence which is how we adapt the environment we are in.  Level number three is the social and political and cultural environment, this is the way society sees people and how it treats them.  Similar to this how we treat someone depends on how society treats them.  Communication is only effective when all of the levels are equal and in balance with each other, when we are trying to communicate and one of these levels outweighs another there is an imbalance, this can cause problems because one level is ignoring the information at the other levels.  Whilst communicating with someone with communication difficulties, it is important to make a deliberate effort and focused input into the interaction, trying to communicate using a typical conversation style may be totally ineffective.  This is because we may need to change our communication level to meet the needs of the person with a disability to make the person feel more comfortable.  It is therefore essential that we respond using the communication needed by the individual, in a sensitive way and our approach to that person offers care and support to try and broaden their spectrum of communication.  Communication is a way to value people, as well as giving them stability in their live. It also makes people feel more confident in themselves and their beliefs as an individual person.  Communication may also give a person control over their own lives and the belief that they can do things for themselves and make them feel very independent.

(Bunning and Grove 2002)

Different types of communication are important because it helps different types of people feel more in tune with what is happening around them even if that person cannot hear, speak or see.

There are many types of communication that can be used in health and social care setting they are;

One to one communication

Group communication

Informal

Formal

Each one of these types of communication is used in different settings to say different things.

One to one communication is where it is only two people talking to each other and no one else is joins in, it can be used in a doctor patient setting, where the doctor is having a consultation to try and find out what is wrong with that single patient.  One to one can also be used when a nurse is trying to assess the level of health of a person.  This type of communication can be either formal or informal depending on what needs to be said.  One to one communication is important because it helps to build up a certain level of trust and when one to one communication is being used it give the patient a sense of what they are saying is private, just between them and the doctor or nurse.  Stretch and Whitehouse (2007) said that formal one to one conversations can be understood as a three stage model, where it is important to have an emotional warm-up stage which is the part of the conversation where the two people involved get to know each other and get to understand how the other person communicates, the second part of the cycle is the exchange part in the middle, where both people include say what they need to say for example in a health and social care setting the doctor would be telling the patient what is wrong and what needs to be done and the patient will be asking questions about what the doctor is explaining.  The last stage is the wind-down stage where both parties say their farewells.

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Group communication, it is a harder than one to one communication because it only works properly if every person in the group takes part.  Group communication is more effective if there is respect for everyone in the group and everyone’s opinion is taking seriously.  It will also works better if there is a leader of the group who encourages everyone to contribute and makes sure everyone is not trying to speak at once.  Group communication can be used in things such as group counselling, youth work and AA (alcoholics anonymous), it is important to have group communication because it helps ...

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