Interpersonal Communication in Nursing: Case Study Analysis L3

This report evaluates interpersonal communication methods and factors influencing interactions, focusing on a case study involving a distressed client with dementia. It analyzes the communication cycle, identifies barriers to effective communication (such as physical disabilities), and suggests improvements, including clearer communication and non-verbal cues. The report also explores strategies for dealing with distressed clients, such as building trust and spending quality time, and identifies support structures available to carers, like training institutes and support groups, emphasizing the importance of understanding different psychological needs to enhance communication and build strong relationships.

Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY 0
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
1.1: Three methods of interpersonal communication......................................................................2
1.2 Factors affecting the interpersonal communication...................................................................3
2.1: Communication cycle...............................................................................................................3
2.2: Analysis and Evaluation of the effective barriers to communication and its remedies............5
2.3 Barriers that can be improved....................................................................................................6
3.1 & 3.2: Possible Strategies and improvement in communication...............................................6
3.3: Support structures available to carers.......................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
According to Communication is a way of imparting the information either by writing, in the
verbal form or using some other medium. It is the act of conveying message from one door to the
door that can be understood mutually by using different symbols and semiotic rules. There are
two types of communication, the interpersonal and the external communication. The report talks
about the interpersonal communication and the communication cycle in detail. Furthermore, with
regards to the case study the barriers of communication are also highlighted and the ways to
improve such barriers have been discussed in detail (Fogel, 2017).
1.1: Three methods of interpersonal communication
The three methods of interpersonal communication are Verbal, Written and Non-Verbal
Communication. These communication measures are necessary to share the information between
the relevant parties (Gilkerson and Southwell, 2015). These can be language, singing or body
language.
Under the verbal communication the information is shared with the help of face meetings,
telephone calls, video chats and presentations. This example is a perfect fir of the singing as a
medium to communicate with the others.
The written communication on the other hand is the mode of communication under which the
information is passed via emails, text messages whereas the earlier mediums were faxes and
letters. The best example for this is the language.

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Lastly in the non-personal communication the relationship is built using the gestures and the sign
languages that allow the people to remain connected (Hargie, 2016). Lastly the boddy language
will for the best part of this category.
1.2 Factors affecting the interpersonal communication
Factors affecting the interpersonal communication are cultural, situational, developmental and
physical communication. These communication factors are the biggest elements affecting the
communication.
Cultural Factors include language, morality, perspective and the customs and the belief systems.
Situational Factors involve the personality traits, genetics and the temperament.
Development factors include the media, advocacy, communication for social change and the
participation form the community (Barnlund, 2017).
Physical factors include the facial expressions, eye contact, touch and the postures and the
gestures.
2.1: Communication cycle
From the image below it can be observed that the communication cycle is the process of passing
the information form one end to the another end using the assistance of the seven elements
altogether (Dimmick, 2017).
The seven elements are outlined below.
 Sender
 Ideas

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 Encoding
 Communication channel
 Receiver
 Decoding and Feedback.
Sender: The sender is the person who intends to communicate the message with the intention of
passing thoughts and ideas to other party is known as sender or communicator.
Ideas: Ideas is nothing but the basic subject and the central thought process of the message. This
can be opinion, feelings, ideas, suggestions or orders (McQuail and Windahl, 2015).
Encoding: The ideas or the thoughts are in form of the theoretical and intangible in nature
therefore to pass such quality information a medium is required which can be either words,

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actions, pictures or a lot more. The conversion of central idea into this matter is known as the
process of encoding the message.
Communication channel: There are two types of communicating channel, formal and informal.
The person requires the information, ideas and thoughts to be passed through the channel to
make it reach to the relevant destination and the person can make use of either formal or
informal ways.
Receiver: Receiver is that entity for whom the message has been made for, or who receives the
message formed in the above step. The responsibility of the receiver is to understand the message
in the best possible manner to achieve the desired objective once the message has been received
(Maclay and Newman, 2017).
Decoding:
After receiving the message from the first end the receiver tries to decode the message or the
symbols to get the meaningful extract on the basis of its best knowledge and communication
skills.
Feedback: Feedback is the process of ensuring that the receiver has received the correct message
and understood the message in the same manner as sender meant it to be understood.
2.2: Analysis and Evaluation of the effective barriers to communication and its remedies
The communication barrier that has been analyzed in the case study is the physical disabilities
and the problems in hearing or speech difficulties. This barrier comes under the category of
physiological barriers. This results majorly from the end of the receiver’s state. Since Mrs.

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Roberts is suffering from the loss of dementia the listening becomes a gap between Prisca and
Mrs. Roberts (Skills You Need, 2018).
2.3 Barriers that can be improved
The possible barriers can be improved with the assistance of a little hard work on understanding
the needs of Mrs. Roberts, clarifying the thought by writing them in paper so she can read the
same and this helps in overcoming the barrier of the listening. The language used to write the
message shall be crystal clear and simple. Prisca could keep a regular check on the
communication system installed to get the review of whether the results are working or not. Not
only that Prisca can also make use of gestures and the body language to explain anything that she
wants to Mrs. Roberts. The use of active listening can also help Prisca in settling down Mrs.
Roberts.
3.1 & 3.2: Possible Strategies and improvement in communication
There are varieties of the possible strategies that can be taken into consideration to deal with a
distressed client such as Mrs. Roberts on part of Prisca.
 Prisca, instead of lying to Mrs. Roberts to take her back home could have assisted Mrs.
Roberts in shopping that way the communication would have built very strong and she
wouldn’t have got angry on Prisca (Impact Factory, 2017).
 Prisca shall keep a note for Mrs. Roberts in advance if she is going to be late on regular
basis in this way the communication can be improved and the wriiten note will help Mrs
Roberts remember the reasons given by Prisca.

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 She shall keep an eye on Mrs. Roberts on the regular intervals so that Mrs. Roberts shall
not feel alone and vulnerable of herself. Here the communication has improved as both
Prisca and Mrs Roberts will be in contact of each other.
 Prisca shall spend quality time with Mrs. Roberts to build a sense of belongingness and
harmony between both of them. This will ensure a smooth communication between
Prisca and Mrs Roberts and the bond will help Prisca in understanding Mrs Roberts
(Austin and Pinkleton, 2015).
3.3: Support structures available to carers
The support structures available to the care takers are the training and the skill development
institutes. With the help of these support structure the care takers can gain knowledge on how to
deal different people with different psychology. Apart from this there are certain support groups
and the cultural programs in which the care takers can take part and have a practical experience
to get the live session on how deal with people in the real life. The support structure helps the
trainers to analyze the emotions of the people without meeting them in person. This also boosts
the personalities of the care takers and people mingle with them easily. In the support structures
the carers can also get the training by placing them in the particular situation to get the complete
outlook of how the person feels, what are his/her needs and why they behave in the particular
manner (Austin and Pinkleton, 2015).
Conclusion
Therefore from the above analysis it can be concluded that the communication can be used to
communicate the critical information in the simplest manner. The communication is required at
every end and therefore it shall be the duty of both the parties to understand the message at the

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same level. Further as it can be understood from the case study Prisca can use various measures
to avoid the barriers of communication and build a strong relationship with Mrs. Roberts on a
good note.

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References
Austin, E.W. and Pinkleton, B.E., (2015). Strategic public relations management: Planning and
managing effective communication campaigns. Routledge.
Barnlund, D.C., (2017) Communication: The context of change. In Communication theory (pp.
6-26). Routledge.
Dimmick, S., (2017) Successful Communication Through NLP: A Trainer's Guide. Routledge.
Fogel, A., (2017) Two principles of communication: Co-regulation and framing. In New
perspectives in early communicative development (pp. 9-22). Routledge.
Gilkerson, N.D. and Southwell, B.G., (2015) Interpersonal Communication and Political
Campaigns. The International Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Communication, pp.1-9.
Hargie, O., (2016) Skilled interpersonal communication: Research, theory and practice.
Routledge.
Impact Factory, (2017) The Seven Barriers to Great Communications [Online] Available from
https://www.impactfactory.com/library/communication-skills/seven-barriers-great-
communications [Accessed on 3rd January 2018]
Maclay, H. and Newman, S., (2017) Two variables affecting the message in
communication. Decisions, values, and groups, 1, pp.218-228.
McQuail, D. and Windahl, S., (2015) Communication models for the study of mass
communications. Routledge.

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Skills You Need, (2018) Barriers to Effective Communication [Online] Available from
https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/barriers-communication.html [Accessed on 3rd January 2018]