Principles of Communication in Adult Social Care Settings

2025 Words9 Pages
Principles of Communication in Adult Social Care Settings CU304P/CT304 1.1 People communicate for many reasons, to build and maintain relationships with other people, such as friendships, romantic or professional relationships, to socialise, to make their needs known to other people, to show pleasure or displeasure, allow their feelings to be shown, to find out information, to pass on ideas and knowledge and to maintain a balanced and harmonious way of living with others. 1.2 When working with others in an adult social care setting, good communication can improve working with service users and colleagues, as everyone knows what each other requires, and what tasks they will be doing, it creates confidence and trust in a relationship, service users feel safe in the environment of care; bad communication can cause a lack of confidence, poor quality of care being provided for service users, and poor reputation for care companies. 2.1 To establish each individual’s communication or language needs it is useful to simply ask them, if they do not understand you, you can ask their family members, people who work or live with them day to day, or your colleagues. Other useful methods would be to simply observe them to see how they communicate with others, or read care plans and reports that provide any information on disabilities, or physical conditions, such as sight or hearing impairments, or medical conditions such as strokes which could affect their ability to communicate. An individual’s nationality, culture or ethnicity may also affect their preferences or needs. Other useful approaches could be used such as contacting their social worker, or medical professionals or speech and language therapist. 2.2 Factors to consider when communicating effectively: * Does the individual have a sight or hearing impairment? * Do they speak a
Open Document