Communication in Health and Social Care: A Comprehensive Analysis

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................2
LO 1.............................................................................................................................................................3
1.3 Review methods of dealing with inappropriate interpersonal communication between individuals
in health and social care settings.............................................................................................................3
L02...............................................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Explain the influence of values and cultural factors on communication............................................4
2.3 Effectiveness of organizational systems and policies for promoting good communication practice. 5
2.4 Ways to improve the communication process in a health and social care setting.............................6
LO3..............................................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Accessing the use of standard ICT software packages to support communication in health and
social care................................................................................................................................................7
3.2 Benefits of using ICT software in health and social care users...........................................................8
3.3 Legal considerations in the use of ICT that can impact on health and social care.............................8
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................11
1

INTRODUCTION
Communication can be explained as a procedure to interact with others so that, the requirements and
needs of others could be understood. This is a continuous cycle. It is an important part of relationships.
Communication skill is the ability of a person which helps him/her in expressing their views and ideas to
others. The information must be clear and appropriate, which the receiver can understand. This
assignment provides the importance of communication in health and social care. Various theories and
forms of communication have been given in this assignment. The assignment also describes different
communication systems and its influence over health and social care system. Importance of legislation
and policies have been discussed here. The assignment throws light on the use of ICT (information and
communication technology) and its advantages in health and social care.
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LO 1
1.3 Review methods of dealing with inappropriate interpersonal communication between
individuals in health and social care settings.
Difficulty in communication can lead to various problems. It can make a person feel neglected and alone in the
society. It becomes necessary for the health and social care system to deal with such problems.Various technologies
like communication devices, IT, constant monitoring and trained staff help in dealing with problems related to
communication between the individuals (Bales R. F., 1990). Various non-verbal and verbal techniques can be used
by the working staff to interact with the individuals. This helps the providers to deliver the required assistance. It is
the duty of the care provider as well as the other staff to interact with people and give them essential services. The
verbal communication skills include interacting with the people and understanding their problems. Whereas, non-
verbal communication is the one in which a person communicates with others through his/her expressions. Non-
verbal communication also includes body language, listening skills, making eye contact while communicating,
appearance and gestures. One of the effective methods of non-verbal communication is SOLER which means "Sit
squarely"; "Open posture"; "Lean towards the other"; "Eye contact; "Relax" (Egan G., 2013). This makes the client
feel secured and being understood. Another method is SURETY, which means "Sit at an angle"; "Uncross legs and
arms"; "Relax"; "Eye contact"; "Touch"; "Your intuition". In this, importance of intuition and use of touch have
been given significance. Inappropriate or incongruent language is another problem which leads to inappropriate
communication. This can be overcome by giving training to staff about certain common languages, few signs can be
assigned for some common words in health and social care or translators can be recruited by the organization. It is
helpful when language is a barrier between the individuals. To overcome the problem of inappropriate interpersonal
communication between individuals in health and social care settings, it is important to use proper methods. To
promote good communication between individuals in health and social care sector, confidentiality is important
(Argyle M., 1992). It means that health and social care workers must take care about the information of the client so
that, a sense of trust is maintained between them. It is mandatory to measure how efficient is the interpersonal
communication. This can be done by monitoring through following methods like verbal or written feedback,
observation, interviews, surveys, etc. Mostly, interpersonal communication could be improved by improving one’s
own abilities and skills. Workers skills could be enhanced by proper training programs and workshops. Healthcare
worker must be able to understand what the need of the client is. This will improve the standards of the care being
delivered to the client (Moss B., 2007).
3

L02
2.1 Explain the influence of values and cultural factors on communication
Communication in the health and social care is extremely important as patients have various reasons for
communicating with the service providers and the way of communication would help these patients in
expressing their emotions and feelings. In order to communicate with the patients in an effective manner,
the healthcare providers should be aware of the different cultural values, experiences, beliefs, language,
traditions, etc. Values and culture are the two factors that are believed to influence the communication
process in health and social care to a significant extent. These further include the depending factors like
age, race, gender, socio-economic status, educational background, ethnic beliefs, etc. In health and social
care, the cultural beliefs and values of the patient must be respected and all the patients must be treated on
the similar platform without any discrimination (Milani, 2017). This would also emphasize on
considering the views and opinions of others to improve their participation in the treatment process. This
in itself promotes respect giving behaviour towards others which fosters an environment of trust, mutual
care, and belief.
Cultural background and religious beliefs are extremely important to be respected as the patients can feel
betrayed and develop mistrust in the practitioner if their cultural values are left unattended. Gender is also
an influential factor which affects the communication process as men and women both have differences in
their body language, reflection and the extent of involvement. The healthcare practitioners must be aware
of this difference and communicate with their patients in a way that reflects respect, caring attitude, and
kindness. The key that helps to understand this difference is by being an active listener which helps the
practitioner to understand the patient and respect their personal space. Practitioners must emphasize to
assess the spiritual understanding of their patients and analyze their psychological abilities for
improvising their verbal and non-verbal communication techniques. Further, irrespective of the patient’s
cultural beliefs, the practitioner must maintain honesty and seamless communication in their healthcare
regimen for every patient. Researchers have also suggested that multicultural experience of the
practitioners improve their communicating ability with the patients having a different cultural origin. This
necessitates the training of the healthcare workers on diverse lifestyle and cultural assortment. They must
explore their patient’s beliefs to improve the acceptability by the patient for the ongoing treatment
procedure.
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