Communication in health and social care

The two interactions that I will be using to demonstrate my ability in communicating with different client groups are with a child in year 2 and also with some infants in reception.

I will be doing two different interactions: one-to-one and a group activity.

(E1+E2)

One-to-one- this was with a child. It was me and the child, and I was helping this individual with its work. The child was in year 2 therefore 7 years old. The interaction was based around I.T work, and had to help the individual to first draw up a plan of what the child is going to draw on the computer.

The interaction took place in the computer room, and because there were no tables to work on except for the computer tables, we had to sit on the floor and start drawing out the plan.

The interaction took place at 11.30 half an hour before lunch time. For preparation for this activity I had to ensure that I myself fully understood what I was being asked to do. Therefore I asked the teacher all the relevant information regarding the activity. I also made sure that we had some colors and plain pieces of paper so that we do not waste time once stariting the activity.

I first had to ensure that he understood the task by sitting down next to him and asking him to repeat everything I told him to do. The child at first did not fully understand fully because he wasn’t paying attention the first time I was explaining to him, because there were other children around us, sitting on the floor drawing up their plans, therefore he kept on talking to his friends.

The child finally understood what the task was asking him to do after the second time I spoke to him and explained. I had to start of his plan for him, which gave him something to work with.

During this task, the child would stop whenever he wasn’t sure about what he is doing is right or wanted some help. I was standing next to the child the whole way through the task. I kept an eye on what he was doing was also right.

Once he finally finished his plan, we then both moved on to working on the computer. Again the child had difficulty trying to turn on the computer; therefore I had to show him how to turn the computer on safely. The child then demanded that he wanted to try it himself. Once we got the computer on, I asked him whether he knew which programme we should be using as they had done this sort of activity before.

The child hesitated at first but after some thought he clicked on the right programme. The task here was to draw what was on the paper. The child had to draw a robot, which he now had to draw on the computer. He had to learn how to give instructions and the right direction. He had to command the turtle and input into the computer exactly the right instructions.

The child seemed to be getting on with the task well, as he got the work started straight away without my help. During this activity, I was sitting and observing the child, I asked him on occasions, when I thought he was struggling with the work, to give him some help.

The child was very eager to get his work finished so that they could go and have its lunch. Therefore towards the end of the activity, the child almost gave up, as he was feeling hungry and also needed the toilet. Also the other children would keep ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

The child did look lost when I got back from helping one of the other children. Therefore I had to reassure him that he is doing fine and to keep on going. The child finally got the work finished and seemed very happy with the outcome of what he had achieved. This was pleasing to see.

Evaluating the interaction

I will evaluate this activity by looking at whether the child understood what I had actually told him to do. One way to do this was to check his work at the end and see whether what the child has done is what was asked of him to do. I will also be seeing that whether the child was happy working with me. I can tell this by looking at his facial expression, body language etc. Also I have to check whether I felt comfortable working with the child as well.

Group activity

This activity was with a group of reception children. I had to work with these children on my own and help them to complete an activity. There were 7 children in total that I was working with. The children were around 4 years old. The activity I had to do with them was cutting and sticking the right pictures in the right boxes.

For this activity I had to first prepare before hand the number of worksheets that we would needed and also to get the right safety scissors for the children. Also I had to ensure that we had enough colours available so that they could all use them. I cleaned the tables beforehand also to ensure that there is nothing inappropriate objects left on the tables, which could distract the children. I also had the right number of glues so that again the children do not fight over thses.

I also had a discussion with the teacher beforehand to ensure that I get the seating plan also right as some of the children tend to talk amongst themselves. I made sure that we had the right number of chairs set up for the children.

The interaction took place after lunch time at 1.15pm. As the children sat down to work I had to explain to all the children at one time that they had to cut out the picture that matched the name and stick it next to that name. I told them to be careful with the scissors when cutting the pictures up. I also told them not to start the sticking until I had checked each person and see whether they are on the right track. The children carried on with the activity as I instructed them. Through out the activity had to spend most of the time trying to quieten down the some of the children.

As I found that during lunch time there was a fight between the two people who were sitting next to each other there fore they kept on pushing each other. There fore I had to separate the two and make them get on with their work. As I was doing this I noticed that some of the other children were struggling with the work, but I found it hard to stay with the two individuals and also to help the other children’ with the work. Some of the children did not understand English very well therefore it was very hard for me to explain the task to them again, but finally they understood the task. I then went around to the rest of the children one by one and checked what they were doing was correct. Some of the children were slow therefore they did not manage to finish their work.

The influences that affected this activity were that the children were all hyped up from the fight earlier on therefore they all found it hard to focus on the activity. The two children also kept on distracting others around them to tell them their side of the story about what had happened during lunch time. This made it difficult for me because I did not know whether to help the children with the work or to keep on telling the two boys to quieten down. I tried to keep the atmosphere calm and quite. I spoke clearly to the children while telling them how to do the activity. Although the children were all hyped up they seemed to enjoy the activity because even though the work was not finished by all the children it was still done correctly. The teacher also kept on asking through out whether I needed any help which was encouraging because I knew that if I needed any help then I can ask the teacher but fortunately I did not need any help, as the children finally quietened down. I was also facing the children when telling them what they needed to do which helped because I could see whether the children were listening or not, also I sat on their level when doing this.

(E3)

There was a wide range of communication skills used within the primary school. Communication is an important aspect of care provision. Effective communication in my chosen setting is important because it is needed in order to improve the quality of people’s lives by addressing a range of needs. Effective communication is also about communication with relatives, colleagues and other professionals to create a safe, welcoming and valuing environment. Effective communication is still seen as a right for the client and the Care value base supports this.

Within my chosen setting a range of communication skills were needed in order to carryout formal procedures.

Communication skills were used between;

Me and the students- this allowed me to make sure that I was treating each child differently according to their needs and I also allowed them to express their views ad not feel intimidated by either me , the teacher or other students.

Me and the teacher-the teacher respected what I had to say and I respected what the teacher had to say. This allowed both of us to express ourselves freely. This helped make the atmosphere a friendly one to work in.

Teacher and the students- the teacher allowed the children to express their feelings and views, this promotes individuality and gives the children a chance to have their say about certain things e.g. what fruit they would like to eat during break time and why. This helped to developed individual identities and at the same time supporting personal development.

Teacher and the head teacher- the teacher needed to communicate with the head teacher in order to find out the latest information regarding what is happening in the school.

Teacher and other members of staff- the teacher needed to keep the workplace a pleasant place to work at. Somewhere she felt comfortable at. By communicating with other teachers she managed to keep on top of all the happenings in the school and even swap tips about how to carry out a certain activity.

Teacher and parents- the teacher had to communicate with the parents’ in order to gain consent before going on a day trip. The teacher had to get their consent because it could leave the parents to feel that they do not have a say in what goes on in the school. This also shows the parents that they also have rights also, which they need to be made aware of.

There are various ways of communicating with both formal carers and informal carers.

Non-verbal communication;

Eyes- often the feelings and thoughts can be guessed by looking at someone’s eyes. Our eyes get wider when excited, attracted to, or interested in someone. Looking away can be seen in European culture can be seen ass not paying attention but with in Asian cultures it can be seen as a sign of respect for the elders not to look in their eyes.
The face- people’s face often indicates their emotional state. If there is tension in the mouth this might suggest that a person is depressed or stressed. As shown below;

Voice tone-the way we say things also sends messages e.g. If we talk quickly in a loud voice with a fixed voice tone, people may see us as angry.
Body movement- the way you walk, move your head, sit, cross our legs and arms send messages about whether we are tired, happy, bored or sad.
Face-to-face positions-standing or sitting eye-to-eye can send a message of being formal or being angry.

There are also other skills such as;

Verbal-

There are three factors in a verbal communication: Locution. Illocution, and Perlocution.

The three components of a communication, from a pragmatic point of view, are:

Locution--the semantic or literal significance of the utterance;
Illocution--the intention of the speaker; and
Perlocution--how it was received by the listener.

Verbal also includes skills such as:
Listening-

looking interested and ready to listen
hearing what is said
remembering what is said
checking understanding with the other person using skills such as:

Paraphrasing-this checks for clear understanding and also allows the client to correct if wrong. It is an affective way to test and check your clients understanding.

Giving information- this has to be provided to the clients in an appropriate way because they may speak another language or are visually impaired there fore this can be provided in various forms.

Reflection technique- this allows the carer to show that they are listening by repeating everything they said this way they will not have to express their own views and feelings

Written this can include:

notes
letters
memo’s
emails

(E4)

Maintaining confidentiality

It was really important for me to maintain my clients confidentiality because if I did not then my clients may not trust me, and they would not feel valued and it could lower their self esteem. Also it is their right for their information to be kept confidential. If I shared their personal details with others, it will also show that I do not respect and value them and that they matter.

While at my workplace a visitor came into the building and wanted to find out some information about one of the children. I had to first make sure that the person had some proof of I.D. with them so that I could be sure that that person has a right to know about the child.

Also I kept the children records in a secure place where only me and the teacher had access to. I locked all the children records away in a locked cupboard and only the teacher had the key for it. Also when having a conversation about one of the students, I had to ensure that the door was firmly closed and no one was around to hear anything that we were discussing.

Another time when I had to go and photocopy a page from the register, which not only did it have the names with their date of births on it but it also had their contact details. I had to ensure that I did not even by mistake photocopy more tha one copy and no one else saw the information.

One of the students also brought their medicine into the school, when one of the other children asked me what that was for, I had to ensure that I was not giving any personal information out even to the child, there fore told the child to ask the girl herself why she brought that medicine in. That way I did not break any rules and also if the girl wanted the other student to know then she would tell the child herself, so I left the decision up to her.