Discuss evidence which suggests cognitive development involves the child passing through a sequence of discrete developmental stages.

Name: Venessa Green-Achord

Effective Communications Assignment 1

Effective communications

Assignment 1

Task 2

How the communication cycle is used to communicate in difficult, complex and sensitive issues

When working with people that may find it difficult to communicate due to a specific problem such as a hearing impairment the communication cycle can be used to communicate difficult, complex and sensitive issues. For instance if an health worker was trying to communicate with an individual that was death or had a hearing impairment by using the communication cycle they will be able to pick up on the persons body language and verbal response to their thoughts. By doing this they may notice that the person is having difficulties hearing them and will be able to ask them to turn their hearing aid on or they can talk a little louder so they can hear them. By using the communication cycle health workers are able to recognize communication barriers and do something to tackle it to make patients feel their needs are being met and to make them feel more at ease.

Sensitive issues can be dealt with if a patient needs help but is embarrassed to talk to a health professional not of the same sex and has difficulties communicating due to a language barrier. In a care setting it is vital that health professionals respect the patient’s wishes in order to help them. In order to help patients in this situation, the patient’s needs must be taken into consideration, the health worker or receptionist should inform the male health professional of their problem and try to arrange an appointment with a female health professional to communicate this sensitive issue.

The difference between hearing and listening in the communication cycle

Hearing is the ability to distinguish sound by the ear whilst listening is something that is one consciously decides to do. Hearing comes naturally to individuals who are not death or have a hearing impairment. Hearing is preformed mainly by the auditory system, where the ear perceives sound as it is changed into nerve impulses and processed as sound by the brain. Hearing only involves the perception that that a sound is made, where the individual can decide to ignore or take action. Where listening does not comes quite as easy as listening needs concentration so the brain can process the meaning of words and sentences. Listening is one of the most vital skills in effective communication. In order for listening to be effective a lot of skill is needed. Listening is used in the communication loop when one person listens whilst the other person expresses their thoughts expecting to get some response back. When listening to someone eye contact should be given and a person should stop what they are doing to show that they are giving the person talking their full attention and that they care about what the person has to say. Skilled listening also involves active listening individuals should show they are listening and understanding not just with their ears by using facial expression such as by smiling, nodding head and verbally by saying things such as ‘ I see’ and ‘ okay’. By health care professionals doing these things to show that they are listening to the patient, the patient will feel that they are willing to help and respect their needs.

c) There are many factors that can influence the ‘sensitive ‘interaction such as:

Language needs

Language is one of the things that can cause a barrier of effective communication. In order to communicate effectively we need to understand each other. Language needs vary; individuals may have a speech problem like stuttering or problems with pronunciation, talking a different language, or not understanding due to a mental illness. The communication cycle can be used to identify a persons language needs and will help find ways to meet these needs.

Behaviour

By paying attention to how someone is ...

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c) There are many factors that can influence the ‘sensitive ‘interaction such as:

Language needs

Behaviour

By paying attention to how someone is behaving it can give you an idea of how they are feeling. For instance a person’s behaviour can show health care professionals that they are not comfortable or not happy with how they are being cared for or treated. The health care professional can use observe a patients behaviour and think of effective ways of communicating with them. For instance if the person was always fidgeting or not keeping eye contact by looking down this could be due to the fact that they are feeling uncomfortable in the surroundings. The health care worker can ask the patient if they will feel more comfortable talking somewhere else, maybe in a more private area.

Overcoming any barriers

There are many barriers are many barriers in the health and social care sector that can have effect on an interaction between individuals. For instance, if a patient does not speak English it is important that a health professional gets an interpreter so that the health professional can meet the patient’s needs. If the barrier was not tackled there will be know way of the health professional and patient understanding each other and the health professional wont be able to help. This is because the individual wouldn’t be able to understand the help they and advice they are getting and the health professional wouldn’t be able to understand their health problem. Disabilities can create a barrier to communication. Disabilities include hearing, speaking and visual impairments, as well as mental health problems and illnesses. Health care institutions should make sure that there building is suitable for wheelchair users by providing things such as ramps so that they are able to enter the building to communicate with health professionals. Also advocates should be provided for those that do not understand there rights.

The environment

The environment during an interaction can have a big influence the communication taking place between individuals. If there is a noisy environment, the individuals may not be able to hear each other properly and communication levels will become poor. Examples of noises which can disturb communication are other conversations taking place, telephones ringing, crying children, traffic and road works outside, etc. For example, if a health professional and a patient were conversing in a hospital ward and child was crying, the child may draw the health professional’s attention away from the patient. This would disturb the interaction between the two individuals and may cause the patient to feel that what they’re trying to say is not important to the health professional, breaking any rapport that had existed between them. The same applies with noise from traffic or road works outside. If a window is open the noise will be very loud and can cause one or more of the individuals in an interaction to become distracted. For example, if the noise was coming from a police car and the patient looked out of the window to see what was happening, the distraction may cause them to miss out on something very important that the health professional is saying to them.

Task 3

Patients/ service users may have specific communication needs that require some support such as language, hearing, visual, physical or mental disabilities. Verbal communication is one of the main ways that individuals communicate with each other which is mainly done with the use of language. Some individuals may come from a community where English is not the main language. These individuals may have many problems when they have to interact with health professionals as they might have great difficulty describing their condition accurately. Therefore the use of interpreters and translators are essential as they assist patient’s needs. There are many voice output technologies that individuals with severe speech and language difficulties can benefit from.

Health and social care settings need the services of translators and interpreters to assist patients and service users. Translators and interpreters can help patients and health professionals get across what they are trying to say in a language that the other person understands. For instance if a doctor is explaining to a patient what treatment they need, but the patient does not understand the language an interpreter may need to intervene. The interpreter will become a part of the communication cycle to make sure effective communication occurs. If the patient is able to receive valuable information that will help them recover from there health problem they will look happy, which will boost their self- esteem and help to speed up their recovery. Also health handouts and leaflets should be translated into other languages so that other people that are not able to read and understand English writing will be able to also get helpful information that could be useful to them. People who are visually impaired can be assisted with a normal tone of voice. Also additional information can be provided in Braille so that visually impaired people will be able to read more on specific health issues or other information on health programmes that are going on in their community that they may be interested in. non verbal communication such as posters and signs can assist all patients in getting where they need to be to get services that meet their needs.

The use of televisions, radios and tapes can all assist individuals who are visually impaired as they will be able to hear and get information although they may not be able to see. Also visually impaired patients can be assisted when sitting down. For instance if a doctor was telling a blind patient to take a seat they may guide them by placing their hand on the chair so that they can feel where the seat is. Patients who have hearing impairment can also benefit from Videotapes and television as they can get useful information from the images and if there may be a person that is doing sign language so even doe they cannot hear they will know what the people on the video are saying. People with hearing problems can also be assisted with the use of text messages, images or writing messages to help them understand the information given. If a patient has a hearing aid the health professional can use their communicational skills to identify the signs of if the individual is hearing properly. If the patient is having difficulties hearing the patient should be asked to turn the hearing aid on or up.

Psychological disabilities cover a wide range of conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder (formally known as Manic Depression and schizophrenia. Patients with psychological disabilities may need support with their communication as they may have trouble with focusing attention, have slurred speech, difficulties with trust or/and have low self-esteem. Although symptoms can be controlled with medication and counselling, Periodic episodes may happen that need a change in treatment. Because patients with psychological disabilities may have slurred speech is important that health professionals give them their full attention when listening to them. Patients with psychological disabilities can be assisted by distinguishing important from unimportant information and reasoning in a deductive manner. Feelings of low self-esteem can be triggered when treated poorly. Therefore when patients are satisfied that they are being treated fairly and there needs are being met, they will feel better about themselves and this will increase their self esteem. They will also start to build a trusting relationship with the health professional and will begin to look forward to their treatment as they will be positive about their recovery.

References

.http://www.thesykesgrp.com/BiteYourLipListenArt01.htm

http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/SMA-3715/introduction.asp