There are many different environmental factors which affect the health and social care sector. For example, there is background noise, facial expressions, awkward sitting, people sitting to close or at a distance and room with different temperatures as a hot or cold room could make someone feel tired or stressed, all these are a communication barrier, that means if stops the development of understanding between two or more people.
All these affect the communication as the communication could not be received, as a worker in health and social care, you may not realise someone is deaf as you may have not been told the information on them or read their report so you could be having a conversation with them and there not understanding because they cannot hear and they might to be able to lip read what you’re saying because of the facial expressions your using as you could be speaking to fast using different faces.
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Another factor this could affect is that the communication could be received but not understood, while being a health and social worker you must be able to know when the right time is to speak formally, e.g. your speaking to a family member or to a medical professional, if you used a language such as slang, the message might not be understood and the information could be taken in the wrong way and the outcome could be worst.
People could also be affected in an emotional or psychological way as the understanding of communication is distorted. You could be talking to a resident and they could have a psychological problem which affects them emotionally, as you could be sitting to close to them which makes them nervous and affects them to relapse any emotional trauma they’ve had in their life, this affects the communication as you’re not able to speak to them in a way you’d like, in the situation you would have to accommodate to their preferences to what makes them comfortable.
A barrier is something that stops one thing from happening this happens in health and social care with communication where it prevents the exchange of information within two or more people. Examples of these barriers are:
Environmental
Psychological
Sensory
Language
Environmental barriers can include poor lighting, body language that people like to see, e.g. deaf people and noise as it can be distracting and can take a person’s focus away, also people could be sat to close or too far from each other. To overcome these, you could make a room feel comfortable, by putting stuff that the service users likes in there, make sure the room is lit well so deaf people would be able to lip read and watch your body language and if you’re having a serious conversation with a service user or resident make sure you have access to private rooms so the conversations are kept confidential. All these help make a person user feel comfortable in the environment there in and makes a person feel safe and secure and let them know that you’re a person they can trust.
Psychological barriers that can affect communication are a service user could be too shy, they could have a fear of rejection and they could have low self-esteem which affects how they communicate. You could refer the service user to seek medical attention so there able to get the right professional help they need, make sure your reporting all issues such as self-harm or any signs of abuse, e.g. bruising and make the service user feel safe and let them know you’re going to help them. All this helps the health and social care service become stronger because more and more people will want to use it knowing the service and support it gives to any age, even if there young or old.
A sensory barrier could affect a person’s communication skills as they could have visual or hearing impairment. To overcome this the service should assess the user and use their preferred method of communication, as it could be sign language or braille or even they could use aids to help them hear or see. This is a major help if you’re a health and social care service, as it shows you have different ways to help a range of different people which not many services have, so it gives a good reputation to the service.
Lastly they are different language barriers such as speech or English could be someone’s second language. To help overcome this the service could learn key works of different languages or have an interpreter on sight at all times to help people who need it, as they could be coming from a different country and need medical attention quick and by having someone there to interpret what they are saying and help communicate back benefits both parties, they could even give someone speech and language therapy which helps a person who maybe doesn’t speaks English learn the language and opens up opportunities for them, e.g. them getting a job and earning a lifestyle for themselves. This is important in health and social care service as people every day suffer with communication because of language after accidents or their background with services helping people and giving them options to be able to change that and let them re-learn the language or even learn it for the first time shows how much the service cares and accepts all types of people and wants everyone to get the best life they can.
