Considerations for Verbal and Written Interaction in Diverse Environments

1.1 Effective Communication

Good communication should ensure certain things, mostly that the communicator is not making a lot of mistakes when communicating. The communicator needs to ensure that there are no mistakes in his communication, either verbal or written.

In light of achieving goals, the goal of effective communication is to make the person around us understand what we are trying to say. In the workplace, communicating effectively is key as the individual has to make sure that they verbally communicate in a language that the other understands. If that isn’t possible, then written communication needs to be initiated. There are many factors which need to be considered, firstly if the individual is capable of verbal, education of not. If they aren’t then sign language or braille needs to be used to communicate with them. Secondly, if they are aged they may need hearing aids to hear what the other is saying. Lastly, people who are differently abled need to be communicated with accordingly in order to suit their needs. For example, a translator may be used if the communicator doesn’t speak the same tongue as the listener or has hearing disabilities, a translator may be used.

In order to effectively communicate with the individual, it is important to build rapport. One of the ways of doing that is by using gestures and phrases which the other person is using and by mirroring them. For example, if a young child is reluctant to talk to a tutor, the tutor could encourage them to speak about their favourite tv show, which could make them more willing to speak. Respect other people's opinions and never belittle those who disagree with you. Just attempting to put your own point across may result in the other person getting defensive to your attempts to prove yourself right and may result in the two individuals not getting to know what the other wants, rather just wanting to win a fight over who is right. Ultimately, an overarching theme in effective communication is that enough respect must be provided to the individual who is interacting with you.

When communication is being undertaken with an individual, care needs to be take to ensure that the other person is able to comprehend what we are saying. The cycle of effective communication involves communication on your part, the other receiving the message successfully and then they might indicate, either verbally or non-verbal that they have understood. What they say in return to that communication is referred to as feedback.

1.2 Identify Barriers to Communication

There could a host of different things which could prove to be barriers to communication. The barriers could be linguistic, psychological or emotional in nature and sometimes they could be a disconnect between the attitude of the people who are speaking.

One of the most significant impediments to successful communication is when the individuals in the conversation face a language barrier. The most widely used means of communication is language and thus it is essential that both parties speak it clearly. One of the barriers to successful communication is the fact that each major region has its own dialect and when a person comes to that region from outside they are not familiar to the dialect. Sometimes, the person may find the dialect too thick for their understand and a thick dialect may often make contact inadequate. A lot of times, there could be psychological or emotional barriers to communication as well; there are a variety of behavioural and psychological disorders that can prevent people from communicating effectively. Some people suffer from stage fright, speech problems, phobias, depression, and other issues. All of these circumstances can be very difficult to navigate at times, and they will almost definitely restrict the ease with which you will communicate. Cultural norms and their differentiations may cause a variation in communication and hindrances in communication as well. Several fundamental values of the different societies have different meanings for different people. From one culture to the next, clothing, religions or even the lack of religion in a society, eating and drinking behaviour and general behaviour can differ dramatically. Additionally, some personal factors may also instigate people to not communicated; some people want to be left alone and they might not want to engage in a conversation with other people. They are introverts or people who are socially awkward. Problem occurs when these people do not have a choice but communicate with others because of their work and because of social commitments. In case of these barriers, it is important to be considerate of the fact that an individually may not be as comfortable in a social setting.

Barriers to communication may include problems whereby individuals may not be able to speak as clearly or without interruptions. When people are communicating from crowded spaces, or if they are working from home, there is a possibility that they may be operating from home and not a professional environment. The informal environment of the home does not allow for too much concealment of the noise and can potentially lead to distraction too. Additionally, the individual may have reading difficulties too, whereby they are unable to read what the other has written. Other barriers to communication may me more fundamental in nature, such as speech impediments, people of all ages may face communication gaps whereby they may have disorders which can cause hearing loss, either from birth or later on in life. Apart from that, the individuals may be suffering from neurological problems and intellectual limitations, because of which they may not be able to put forward their option.

1.3 Importance of Reflective Practice

The idea of reflective practice is thinking about learnings and actions that we have done in the past in an attempt to understand ourselves and our environment better, improve ourselves or our environment and to achieve some objective like that. Most people learn about reflective practise for the first time at university. This may be in response to a patient situation, an elective, or a different experience. Reflection is a part of the process whereby students are asked to do a particular exercise and then asked to record what they learned and what they will improve in further similar exercises or situations in life. This is an import part of the educational practice as the exercise of reflection makes individuals not just complete a job or an action and move forward, rather it makes them think about what they did and identify the gaps where their performance could have been better and they could have done more.

There are some external standards which need to be followed in reflective practice, namely; code of practice, which is ensured by the Care Quality Commission, National Minimum Standards, Fundamental Standards of Quality and Safety, National Occupational Standards and Communication Induction Standards. Bias in reflection is a common phenomenon and it occurs when you have a strong opinion on something. It needs to be avoided by shadowing a more experienced colleague and learning from them and understand at all times that our beliefs and opinions are the result of our upbringing and out background.

Personal development plans are also important for the professional development of the individual. Your boss, who will be able to help and advise you, should encourage personal growth plans. Personal development goals are frequently discussed at oversight or assessment sessions, as this is where any flaws, places for improvement, or training shortages may be highlighted. When attending supervision and assessment sessions, it is critical to remember that prevention is better than cure, since nothing can be accomplished without it.

Confidentiality is about protecting someone's desires and maintaining their anonymity. It means that practitioners can only exchange sensitive information about someone if that person has given permission or if it is absolutely necessary. Confidentiality in a health and social care environment ensures that the doctor and the individual should maintain a level of trust as part of good care. This means the doctor can only warn people who wish to hear about what an individual has ever said or their personal information. In 2020, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect. This regulation replaced the European Union General Data Protection Act which operated in the UK from 2016 to 2018. The EU GDPR was enacted by the European Council and automatically Britain was taken under this legislation as well. This comprehensive piece of legislation establishes data privacy standards for all entities handling personal data in the European Union. While the big, 20% tax fines remain, there are a variety of aspects the DPA differs from GDPR. The Data Protection Act works along side the UK GDPR Act, whereby it enacts the GDPR into UK law, and in doing so, it includes certain GDPR-authorized exclusions, resulting in several important distinctions. Some of those relate to processing of criminal data, protecting privacy and rights of children and so on. The UK GDPR and Data Protected Act work together as the Data Protection Act works to regulate the data of private individuals, whereby the UK GDPR works to regulate and process the data used by commercial bodies. Additionally, the UK GDPR does not apply to intelligence services process but the Data Protection Act ensures that. Hence, these two acts work in tandem together to protect and prices commercial and personal data in the UK.

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