Unit 1

Effective Care and Communication

Student:

GCE Health & Social Care

The Catholic High School, Chester1

Life Quality Factors (LQFs) In Health and social care settings practitioners help clients by increasing the extent Life Quality Factors are present.

Factors affecting quality of life

Explanation Example of provision in care setting

Phys

ical

ExerciseHas important long term benefits and feel good factor. Different age groups need different types of exercise to improve their quality of life. Children need it for development whereas older people need it to maintain mobility.

DietThe amount and types eaten can affect quality of life, particularly if individuals have a condition such as diabetes/ high cholesterol. A balanced diet contributes toward good health and a person’s social and cultural wellbeing.

Physical comfort

Providing a suitable environment which meets individual’s needs, comfortable, stimulating with adequate care.

SafetyIndividuals may be at risk from carelessness, problems associated with old age/ disability etc. An individual’s quality of life can be improved by prevention of such risk of injury, harm, infection.

Hygiene Cleanliness and use of precautions to guard against infection to prevent unnecessary disease or infection.

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Factors affecting quality of life

Explanation Example of provision in care setting

Pain relief Some individuals have pain on a regular basis / continuously due to conditions such as arthritis or cancer and if the pain is not controlled it can have a negativeeffect on the person’s quality of life.

Privacy Individuals should be allowed opportunities to be unobserved/ undisturbed if they wish ( e.g. When dressing, receiving treatment, bathing or if they wish to speak confidentially, or simply want time alone.

Dignity Treating individuals with respect by not demeaning them in any way to ensure their self-esteem remains positive.

Approval Showing affection or praise for someone’s actions. This helps individuals maintain a positive self-esteem and a feeling of achievement and value for their actions.

Psychological security

Individuals experience times of worry or stress – such as worrying about treatment they receive, family or financial problems – which may make them feel insecure. Reassurance and effective communication can allay fears.

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Psychological

Autonomy Refers to an individual’s ability to have control over their lives and the opportunity to make decisions without coercion from others. Individuals in care settings can become more autonomous if they are encouraged to assert themselves and gain confidence.

Social contact Opportunities to be with other people to avoid isolation which may lead to depression. Social contact can be provided by belonging to a range of social groups depending on age and abilities.

Social support This is when individuals receive support from people they trust, usually family or friends. This provides emotional security as they can discuss problems and get help needed to solve them, such as physical support to help with a practical activity or the psychological support of having someone to talk to who understands them.

Stimulation Means the presence of stimulus to keep the mind active and alert to prevent boredom and often depression. Stimulation helps individuals to find life interesting and feel motivated and challenged.

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Psychological

Occupation (engaging in activities)

It could be voluntary or paid work or a hobby such as knitting, sports etc. Some activities can provide individuals with a sense of wellbeing and make them feel worthwhile, whilst also providing social interaction and physical fitness.

Equitable treatment

This is the absence of unfair discrimination. Service users should receive fair treatment which is no better or worse than others.

Confidentiality Practitioners should ensure that sensitive information about service users is not given to anyone who does not need to know. It helps maintain an atmosphere of trust.

Effective communication

Practitioners should ensure that they communicate any information to their clients in a way that is understandable by them. The manner in which they do this may need to be altered depending on the client’s age, if they have a physical or learning disability. The client should also be given the opportunity to ask questions about their condition or treatment.

Choice If clients are given the opportunity to choose between something and make a decision for themselves will give them a sense of freedom and empowerment.

Notes:

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To do: Link each scenario to the correct psychological factor below.

A wife accompanies her husband to the hospital for a meeting with

his consultant to see if his testicular cancer has returned

A severely disabled boy is congratulated by his mum for putting his pyjamas on himself

despite them being out of the dirty laundry basket.

A single mother of four year old twin boys breaks a leg in a car

accident and is unable to work or drive. She will not get paid if she does not work and is running out

of money to feed her boys.A group of elderly women meet

every day in Tesco’s café at 12 pm despite not always needing

shopping.

Tracey is 16 and lives in a care home. She shares a room with 3

other people. She has no place to get dressed without being

watched.

Patrick has been to University and scored the highest grade. He has just been to an interview but has not been given the job and feels

the reason was not because of his qualifications or personality, but because of the colour of his skin.

Jean has been independent all her life and has recently moved into a care home. One care worker keeps calling her Jane but they ignore her

when she tries to correct them. She feels that no-one listens to her

and that the care workers treat her like a child.

Privacy

Social contact

Equitable treatment

Social support

Psychological Security

Dignity

Approval

To do: Write your own short dictionary definition for each of the LQFs

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Key Terms You own ‘dictionary’ definitionPsychological security When someone is unsure or certain about things, lacking confidence, doubtful

Autonomy Having effective control over your actions

Privacy

Dignity

Approval

Equitable treatment

Confidentiality

Effective communication

Choice

Social contact

Social support

Stimulation

Occupation

Exercise

Diet

Physical comfort

Safety

Hygiene

Pain relief

Research Task (purely to enhance your knowledge): Suggest alternative methods of pain relief (non-drug) which could be provided for clients or patients in care settings. Place your findings within the ‘Year 12 HSC UNIT 1 discussion board’ on dashboard.

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Conflicting life quality factors

Sometimes..... a situation that provides one life quality factor will tend to reduce another. For example, if clients have plenty of choice about what they eat, this might conflict with the

quality of the nutrition – they might choose to eat a lot of sugary foods. These conflicting factors might have to be balanced.

To do: Give two examples of situations in care settings when conflicting factors might occur.

1.

2.

Question:

How could such conflicts be resolved in care settings?

Life stages and life quality factorsDifferent life quality factors will be important to individuals at different times in their life and according to their needs.

To do: Write a list of the factors which are most important to you at the moment, with most important first etc.

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To do: Show which of the life quality factors you think are important for each age group in the table below.

Life stage Life Quality Factors of Importance0-1 years

1-5 years

5-10

Adolescent

Adult

Older adult

(Occupation; Stimulation; Effective communication; Choice; Autonomy; Equitable treatment; Social contact; Social support; Approval; Privacy; Dignity; Confidentiality; Psychological security; Exercise; Nutrition; Physical safety and hygiene; Physical comfort; Freedom from pain)

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Caring Skills and TechniquesCaring Skills and Techniques can be divided into two categories:

Promoting the Optimal Environment for Supporting Service Users Reducing the Negative Feelings and Behaviours of Service Users and avoiding and defusing conflict.

The skills carers develop to promote the optimal environment for supporting service users come with training and daily practice. These skills are put in place to put service users at ease and make treating people well much easier to manage.

To do: Write an explanation for each of the caring skills in the table below using page 23 in your textbook

Caring skill Explanation

Prom

oting

the

optim

al e

nviro

nmen

t

Perception

Observation

Communication

Encouraging

Creating trust

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12

Caring skill Explanation

Redu

cing

neg

ative

feel

ings

Gaining compliance

Eye contact and facial expression

Disengagement

Physical contact

Distraction

Modelling

Working alongside users

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Showing approval

Setting challenges

TASK: Skills for care settings and clients

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Care setting examples:

Hospitals

The family home

Day centres

Nursing and residential homes

Education settings

Special education settings

Prisons

Remand centres

Client: Client:Setting: Setting:Caring skills: Caring skills:

Barriers to effective caring – summarise your understanding.

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Barriers internal to practitioners

Barriers internal to clients

Ways in which clients are treated badlyFor each of the following, choose a client, practitioner and care setting and identify how the client could be treated badly.

Client & setting Practitioner Scenario

Neglect

Rejection

Hostility

Punishment

Bulling

Violence

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Unfair discrimination

Types of Communication In groups, pick four of the health and social care services and answer the following questions.

Health and social care service

Why is communication important within that

environment

Who are we likely to be communicating with if we

worked in that environment

EXTENSION

Now start to thinking about what EFFECTIVE communication actually is? Jot your ideas down here ↓17

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Verbal Communication

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Non-verbal Communication

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http://www.bodylanguageproject.com/

Notes on anything interesting you read in the following article:

How to Read Body Language Quickly In 8 Easy Steps

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Overcoming communication difficulties

Communication difficulty

Ways of overcoming difficulty

Deafness

Blindness

Speech

Reading i.e dyslexia

Smell

Touch

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Barriers to communication

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Lack of a common or shared language

Use of unfamiliar technical or dialect words/phrases

Differences in cultural beliefs and assumptions

Environmental issues such as noise, inappropriate rooms, lack of privacy

Reluctance to communicate (such as being in an abusive or violent situation)

Practitioners lack of confidence or experience

Hostility between client and practitioner

Evaluating communication skills

“You should know that communication skills can be evaluated by assessing a practitioner’s use of the skills names earlier and assessing whether the style and content of communication is appropriate for the client and setting.”

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Communication when working in teams

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Ensuring continuity of care

Sharing essential information about

client needs

Informing practitioners of change in a clients

condition

Avoiding or defusing conflicts between staff

Developing the caring skills of

inexperienced staff

Supporting, guiding and encouraging

staff

Notes

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Notes

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