Effective communications P3

National Diploma Health and Social Care in Health Studies

Unit 1 Developing effective communication

P3 Describe a range of factors that influence communication and interpersonal interaction. Include both positive and negative factors.

The nature of communication: This could be one of the main factors which influences the way we communicate with someone. If someone is deaf, verbally speaking to them is not always going to be understood unless they can lip- read so therefore this influences how you would communicate with this person. Other methods have to be considered for instance British Sign Language or written communication. The same can be said if someone is blind, we can verbally speak to , but if they had to read information then simple written communication is not appropriate for them and brille would have to be used.

Cultural differences and preferred spoken languages: If someone is from a different ethnic background to yourself they could possible prefer to speak in a different language than English or possibly are unable to speak or understand English. This can then make it difficult to communicate with someone unless an interpreter is available. Then other forms of communication have to be used such as pictures or objects. Verbal and non-verbal communication can be interpreted different between cultures, age and occupation. Words can be interpreted differently depending on the context and the culture of the person using them. This can make it difficult to understand the intentions of the speaker, if the context of the conversation has not be considered or understood.

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The environment: Being in a crowded room with lots of noise can make it very difficult to be heard and understood because of the background noise surrounding the speaker. This can be especially difficult for someone using hearing aids, not only will the speaker be amplified but also the background noise too. Poor lighting can make it difficult to see and make sense of someone’s facial expressions. By seeing someone’s body language can give someone a better understanding of what is being communicated. If someone uses lip reading to understand people lighting plays a crucial part in their ability to understand. The size of the environment can also make communicating more difficult or uncomfortable for some people. Sitting to close or too far from someone can make some people uncomfortable when speaking to others. The temperate also affects the way we communicate with each other; it can make people feel tired or stressed.

Attitude and mood: Our attitude can be influenced by many things such as our age, gender or possibly our occupation. We have to be able to change this depending on the situation and the people we are communicating with. We also need to be able to be assertive in certain circumstance for example when a patient is uncooperative, a doctor or health care professional needs to have the ability to be assertive enough to be able to treat the patient in the appropriate way, in order to achieve the best out-come for everyone. Our mood can also be transferred over to the person we are communicating with. If we are in a bad mood this can be interpreted in our communication to the listener, which could affect the understanding of the conversation or could possibly alter the response we receive. Being in a good mood can make a difficult situation better just by the positive energy being released by the communicator. Whatever mood we are in can easily affect the conversations we are having whether positive or negative.

Age and gender: Most people feel uncomfortable talking to the opposite sex unless we know them. This can make it difficult to seek medical advice as the thought of speaking to a doctor of the opposite sex about personal or embarrassing conditions can be too much for some to over-come. For some cultures it is essential that they are treated by the same sex as themselves as it can be illegal in their religion. This could be problematic in any environment, but could result in a patient refusing treatment. Age can also influence the way we communicate with people. The elderly are sometime suspicious of younger generations and this can make it difficult when trying to communicate with the elderly as they maybe distant and uncooperative. The same can be said for younger people, they sometimes dismiss what they are told by older people as they feel they are interfering in their lives, an example of this could be advice given to underage drinker, they maybe advised on the effects on their bodies but dismiss the information as it is given to them by older people.

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Jenny Spice

17th of Sep 2013

Star rating 3 This essay describes some factors that may influence communication and interpersonal interactions with occasional reference to health and social care settings. However, P3 of this specification, 2007, states

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