Other seating pattern is half-circle in which teachers sit in the middle of it. It tells that though we all are equal most of the communication are done by teachers etc.
The setting arrangement and spaces can be the barrier of communication which prevents on exchanging non verbal messages. For examples sitting in a square positioning blocks people sitting in a same row to see each other, they might feel awkward and uncomfortable to sit in opposite of somebody etc. which results on incomplete information or short information. The spaces depend upon different culture. The space between people while communicating tells how friendly the conversation is. While talking with stranger we will have a arm length distance and while talking with our friends, family etc we get a bit closer than our arm length. In care setting, it is an important issue that we do not enter to service user’s personal space without permission which can be seen as aggressive. Spaces between each other tells different messages like sitting closely in circle tells that everyone in a group are interested on discussion or can’t hear each other due to noisy environment etc.
So it is important to have appropriate positioning between each other as it influence on effectiveness or ineffectiveness of information.
Emotion
Service users gets nervous, scared, depressed etc due to their health condition. In that case they need emotional support to help them overcome such emotional needs. But ignorant of service user because of tiredness, stress, assumptions, lack of time etc affect the communication as it makes service users to feel devalued, aloud, scared etc.
The ability of building relationship with each other influence in communication. Trust, respect, listening etc. helps them to feel comfortable. If we trust someone then we can share information, if we respect them then they respect us and so on. The relationship is depends upon all these things. So it is important to consider the emotional impact and communicate to meet emotional needs of service users.
Some people who are shy in nature and gets nervous they don’t communicate a lot with other people. So by being assertive, it helps them to control their emotion rather than running away.
In care setting, there are different people of different nature. Service providers have to deal wisely having patience. They have to control over their emotion so that they can provide the good care and overcome the barriers. There are three types of behavior. Aggressive, assertive and submissive. In aggressive the main emotion is anger. It is a threaten non verbal behavior which includes fixed eye contact, tense muscles etc. These kinds of behavior never meet the needs of service users. In assertive the main emotion is staying in control of own action. It is a normal non-verbal behavior which includes varied eye contact, relaxed muscle etc. The aim of this response is to meet the needs of service users as well as service providers. And in submissive behavior the main emotion is fear. It includes submissive non verbal behavior like looking down, tense muscles, frightened look etc. These kinds of responses meet the needs of service users but not of the service providers.
Environmental conditions
The environment also effect on communication. The noisy background prevents to hear clearly, the darker place prevents to see the facial expressions of other people, hot or cold places prevents to concentrate, seating positioning prevents to see each other etc. which inhibit the communication.
It plays an important role to make the communication effective or ineffective. Having an appropriate place to communicate builds up relationship as it maintains confidentiality, creates a way to understand etc. For those people having sensory disimpairment needs quite place to understand and for those people who lip-read to support their understanding needs good lighting etc. in that time environmental condition plays a vital role on it. So it is necessary to consider the environmental condition understanding that the client may have some problems in understanding.
But talking with client’s family member, talking with parents etc in an inappropriate place like corridor where other people are passing or can hear what we are talking then it breaks confidentiality. They feel devalued and not respected which breaks the relationship. In order to build up relationship, we can take them to our office for private talk, making the chair and the environment in office comfortable etc. Even a single disturbance can effect on effective communication. For examples, in a class room while teacher is teaching then two of the student are making noises then it distract the concentration of other student as well as teacher. These affect rest of other student in understanding. So it is important that environmental conditions are concerned while communicating.
Special needs
All of the people are not physically and mentally capable. We can see people looking physically and mentally fit but they might have problem of hearing. So we cannot tell what’s their problems and disabilities are until we understand them.
Different service users might have different communication needs. Some service user might have limited vision. So they need to hear or touch in order to understand. Some service user might have difficulties on hearing. They need to see people clearly, lip-read, quite place, non-verbal communication etc. Some service users might have English as a second language so it is important to have interpreter to communicate.
It is very important to choose the appropriate types communication. It helps on building relationship and exchange information.