Effective communication unit 1 D2 Essay

(D2) – Whist taking part in both group interactions and one to one interactions there are many factors that influence the effectiveness of each. This essay will therefore evaluate the factors in which I came across which were an influence to my effectiveness in the interactions. Firstly in the one to one interaction I feel the factors that came across which made my interaction effective was my speech as I feel that I used a clear pronunciations to the service user which allowed her to understand me better so that they weren’t confused with the words I spoke. I also took my time when speaking to her so that she didn’t feel I was rushing her, I did this in order to try and make her open up slightly as she would know I am there to help and spend time focusing on her and her needs so that she didn’t feel that I had better things to do with my time and that I didn’t want to be with her. Also this may make her gain a level of trust with me during the duration which will make her feel like she has someone she can rely on is not alone. I also feel that in my interaction making myself aware of her needs/situation before hand made it easier for me to understand why she was in that state as a service user in the first place and so therefore I didn’t have to recap over the bad parts of her life as that may of got her upset and made her not want to talk even more. This also helped me as I was able to think of advice beforehand so it could be better thought out advice which would hopefully be helpful to her and if she felt the advice was good then this may make her feel that I actually can help her and that there is hope in overcoming her situation. Whilst talking to her I showed my full interests into the communication and interpersonal skills that were taking place and I did this by looking interested and being focused on just her and not having any distractions around me. This would hopefully have made her feel like I am not interested in something else as that may have made her feel that I am not there to help. I felt by doing this it was a strength as it made her open up slightly due to acting as though I want to hear what she has to say and giving her the time to say it and that I was defiantly listening to her. Throughout the period of talking to her I showed assertiveness which made me portray that I was positive and confident. This hopefully then made her feel like I am not going to give up on her and that  would make her have hope in herself that there is a positive outcome. This then would hopefully have made her open up and talk due to wanting to give me information which I can then help her with in order to get her back on track and to have the positive outcome she wants. She spoke about her past in the interaction and about how her mother and father were in prison, at this point she showed a sense of embarrassment and disappointment in them and so therefore I portrayed an appropriate attitude by not judging what is being said to me and saying that this is all in confidence. So that she felt that there is nothing to be ashamed of. When speaking to her I used reflective listening as this would make her understand that I have taken into account what she has been telling me due to me repeating it in a different way, this also lets her know that I understand what she is trying to tell me and will get her to speak more in depth so that I understand exactly what she wants to happen and how she feels. When we were talking I was sitting upright in order to show that I was alert and listening as I would need to look alert in order for the service user to feel that I am aware of what they are saying and that I am bothered about the conversation. I feel that weaknesses to my one to one interaction was that I repeated myself slightly in some conversations due to her body language looking as though she wasn’t listening and this made her feel frustrated as her tone changed acting as though I was patronizing her and that she heard it the first time and wasn’t stupid, to improve this I would therefore give her time to answer what was said and not repeat myself even if she looks like she isn’t listening, if she still doesn’t answer after some time I will repeat the question again although word it in a different way so that it is not the same. I also feel I could of improved on a part of the interaction as I entered a sensitive subject quite early on in the interaction about the death of her auntie which seemed to have put her in an upset frame of mind as I feel that she hadn’t got comfortable enough with me at that time of the conversation to talking about a close subject so I feel that this was a weakness to the interaction, although I brought it back to being effective by showing her the support networks available to her which put her mind at rest and made her feel like she wasn’t alone. In the group interaction I feel the factors that came across which made my interaction effective was the way in which I spoke out in the group to make my point clear to the  other professionals, this also broke the barrier of silence between one another and this brought the others to speak out and share what they feel would be best so I felt that I was an influence on the group here. As a group I feel are strength was that we had good eye contact with one another when speaking which made us realise that we were all listening and interacting so therefore it kept the conversation going. We expressed our thought on things that we felt were negative and explained why so that we understood why we shouldn’t do certain things in certain ways. I feel that I had good use of body language in the group as I sat up straight when speaking and used hand gestures to bring the others to understand more about what I was explaining. Also I feel that my use of nodding my head to indicate that I agree with what people were saying was a good effective interaction as then people in the group knew that I was keeping on track with what they were saying and understood. Also the way in which we worked effective as a group was the way in which we were all aware of the needs and preferences of Mrs.Signh so that we understood about her past and therefore could go straight into what we are going to do with her. I also feel that I made the communication and interpersonal skills effective in the group due to asking questions in order to verify things so that I understood them correctly so that no faults in the system occurred when the meeting was over, as if we go the wrong idea about something then Mrs.Signh’s health may be at risk. In this meeting jargon was used due to it being with 3 professionals in the same profession of health care so they therefore understood the jargon used in the conversation as it was medical terminology. This helped us understand certain aspects of her health in more depth. I also feel that an effective way of communication in the meeting was that we respected each other’s opinions on Mrs.Signh and then came to a conclusion as a group with the final decision, also if we did not feel that someone else’s thoughts were very good we did not put them down we just suggested how we could improve them. I also feel in the meeting that I had a good clear voice with a calm tone so that the meeting stayed at a calm level and stopped it from becoming an intense discussion when disagreements on the care plan occurred, as an intense discussion could of lead to an argument and that would not have been professional. This also helped the other people in the group understand me clearly so that there was no miscommunication or  misinterpretations as these could of lead to the wrong inappropriate care plan which may not have benefitted Mrs. Singh. Ways to improve the meeting as a group in order to gain more effective communication and interpersonal skills may be to not rush the meeting as much as we did and to make it go on for longer stating more information in it. Also we could have introduced ourselves and our care profession at the start of the meeting and shook one another’s hand showing courtesy and politeness. Other ways which we could of improved it is by not having our coats on and so that we are more comfortable and can move about easily for use of good body language. Another way which we could have improved it in our group would be by sitting in more of a closed circle so that we can hear one another efficiently and can see each other clearly in order to see body language and facial expressions. This will help make communication effective and avoid misinterpretations so that no mistakes in the meeting are made. I feel that I could of improved the way that I acted with the group as I feel that I took a direct approach which made me out to be the main person/leader of the group who was in charge due to be speaking up and setting up the topic for discussion. By speaking up in the group with my opinions this may have made the others in the group shy and they may not feel as confident in expressing their opinions. Therefore I would improve this by making it all equal between one another so that others feel that they are on the same level and can speak up and say what they would like to discuss. References: – Robinson, L Segal, J . (2012). Effective Communication. Available: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/effective_communication_skills.htm. Last accessed 17th October 2012. – Skills you need . (2011-2012). Interpersonal Communication Skills . Available: http://www.skillsyouneed.co.uk/IPS/Interpersonal_Communication.html. Last accessed 17th October . – Stretch, B Whitehouse, M (2010). Health and Social Care Level 3 Book 1. England and Wales: Pearson Limited Education – Collins Education . (2011). Developing effective communication in health and social care. Available: http://www.collinseducation.com/resources/hscbtecnationalch01.pdf. Last accessed 17th October 2012.