Effective Communication in Health and Social Care: Theories, Strategies, and ICT Applications

Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Task 1.....................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Theories of communication.........................................................................................................3
1.2 Use communication skills in health and social care context........................................................4
1.3 Handling inappropriate interpersonal communication in health and social care........................5
1.4 Strategies to support the user of health and social care with specific needs forcommunication 6
Task 2.....................................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Communication process is influenced by culture and values......................................................7
2.2 Impact of legislation, codes of practices on communication process in health and socialcare. . .7
2.3 Effectiveness of organizational systems and policies in promoting good practice
incommunication...............................................................................................................................8
2.4 Ways to improve communication................................................................................................9
Task 3...................................................................................................................................................10
3.1 ICT software used in health and social care...............................................................................10
3.2 Benefits of using ICT in health and social care...........................................................................11
3.3 Impact of legal considerations in use of ICT in health and social care......................................12
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................13
References...........................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
It is well said that "the art of communication is the language of leadership and success". It is
true that health and social care as other sectors of work needs communication as its most
important factor that will lead to the formation of a better functioning organization and
work environment. Communication skills is an essential quality for every health and social
care employee and professional as the sector involves various professionals and
multidisciplinary teamwork the best tool for working is the effective communication among
them. This essay discusses various skills and approaches utilized to form an effective
communication between the employees and patient in health and social care. It also focuses
on enumerating various theories of communication and models that can be utilized
effectively. Factors that influence the process of communication is discussed and the
strategies to build an effective communication in health and social care is highlighted.
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Task 1
1.1 Theories of communication
Communication is defined as a process of exchange of information between two or more
individual that helps in understanding and interaction. The effectiveness of communication
depends on various factors and communication being the most important aspect of health
and social care. Effective communication is referred as fundamentals of success in various
aspects including health and social care. Communication is defined as different theories by
different theorists that include the humanistic theory, behaviouristic theory, psychoanalytic
theory and cognitive theory.
Cognitive dissonance theory- LeonFestinger (1951) introduced a set of theories for
communication regarding tot social factors and influences. It is the theory adopted from
social psychology that states that cognitive resembles mind or thinking and the dissonance
means conflict so it explains communication as psychological conflict from having two or
more believe that are not compatible (Andal, 2017). The core concept of theory explains
that people try to avoid dissonance and achieve consonance in their lives with social
influences acting upon but dissonance can be unavoidable. In regard to communication, it
explains that people tend to avoid feelings of other people that oppose them and this may
increase the communication gap between people. At the health and social care, such
communication practices should be avoided. For ex. if a person does not agree with the
opinion of another person in healthcare he will avoid talking and communicating with him
that maybe not beneficial for the patient in health and social care and lead to failure of
treatment and care.
Behaviourist theory- this theory explains how the behaviour of an individual is influenced by
the experiences in his environment and the social stimuli that he faces throughout his life.
This theory helps better understanding of the interaction between the healthcare workers
and patients and communities. As this approach works well in making good health
promotions and health awareness through communication and the behaviour of individual
resembles the way of communication he adopts. This theory suggests that social influences
help in moulding the behaviour and that is depicted in the communication pattern used by
an individual (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). In case of health and social care training and proper
education moulds, the behaviour of an individual in healthcare to be according to patient's
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requirements and needs and this helps in the cultivation of a behaviour that is appropriate
for the communication skills in health and social care. For ex. the social influences like if a
patient ever receives ill-treatment or is not satisfied with the healthcare services he may
develop behaviour against the healthcare centre that will be negative and can be injurious
to his health for future instances (Braithwaite&Schrodt, 2014).
1.2 Use communication skills in health and social care context
Communication skills are the very basic life skill required in every field and health and social
care requires it too. The communication is a simple process of transfer of information in
form of sending and receiving messages and the effectiveness of this communication
process depends on how good the person own the skill to communicate.It is important for a
health and social worker to have effective and good skills for communication so it can be
used effectively for the purpose of forming a relationship under therapeutic guidance with
the patient and the team members for healthcare. The communication process can be
implemented by different methods that include sending and receiving messages as written
way, verbal, non-verbal and listening (Davis, 2014). Verbal communication means the
communication process done with the use of oral words and sentences in any language.
Written communication refers to writing the message down and conveying to others the
message has to be clear enough in this kind of communication. Non-verbal communication
is a sort of communication in which no message is written or spoken verbally but the use of
body language, posture, expressions, gestures etc. helps in conveying message s to one
another. Visual communication is a way in which the symbols and pictures are used to
communicate this can be used effectively to transmit information. Various kinds of non-
verbal communication are Kinesics (body language), sign language, silence, haptic (touch
language), paralanguage (Mehrabian, 2017).
There are various reasons why communication is an important part of health and social care
and communication is used for various purposes that are record keeping, forming a
therapeutic relationship, education, teamwork, leadership, decision making, counselling,
mentoring, advocacy, giving information, negotiating and challenging poor practices.
Communication is essential for creating a therapeutic relationship with the patient and his
family as communication helps in understanding the condition of the patient and granting
information regarding the treatment and planning to the patient. It is also essential in
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