HSC01 Scheme of Work V2
New A-Level Health and Social Care/Schemes of work/Version 2.0
Unit Title HSC01: Effective Care and Communication (compulsory)
This unit introduces candidates to the communication skills used in health, social care, children and young people and community justice sectors.
Method of assessment - portfolio of evidence
Topic / Learning objectives/understanding / Key terms/definitions/notes / Suggested activities / Resources3.1.1
Life quality factors / Understand the impact of the following factors on the quality of life:
· occupation
· stimulation
· effective communication
· choice
· autonomy
· equitable treatment (absence of unfair discrimination)
· social contact
· social support
· approval
· dignity
· confidentiality
· psychological security
· exercise
· nutrition
· physical safety and hygiene
· physical comfort
· freedom from pain / Quality of life
Occupation
Stimulation
Effective communication
Choice
Autonomy
Equitable treatment
Discrimination
Social contact
Social support
Approval
Dignity
Confidentiality
Psychological security
Exercise
Nutrition
Physical safety
Hygiene
Physical comfort
Freedom from pain / Teacher led discussion of the term “quality of life”. What contributes to a good quality of life? What about a bad quality of life?
Students work in small groups, using “physical” and “psychological” as headings, to brainstorm what is needed for a good quality of life. Feedback to class.
Discuss whether there are life stages where some LQFs are more or less important for the individual, or maybe at greater or lower risk of being absent for the individual.
Matching exercise – key terms with definitions.
Students create a table of the different LQFs and their definitions. Then add examples of their provision in a range of care settings. Where possible, students could ask family members or contacts they have who work in one of the four sectors.
Teacher provides examples of scenarios/case studies where LQFs conflict. Discussion on the decisions which need to be made to balance out conflicting factors. / AS level for Health and Social Care (AQA) by Neil Moonie. Page 2.
AQA AS Health and Social Care by Richard Smithson. Page 1.
3.1.2
Caring skills and techniques / Understand how practitioners use the following caring skills to treat people well:
Social perception – being able to recognise correctly a person’s feelings, needs and intentions
Observation – including measuring temperature and blood pressure, noticing changes in behaviour over time, food intake and wakefulness
Communication – listening, inviting questions, giving and explaining information in a way which matches communication style and content to the client
Encouraging – including rewarding adaptive behaviour. Adaptive behaviour is the behaviour of a client which tends to increase his/her well-being (as opposed to maladaptive behaviour)
Creating trust – by acting consistently, by doing what you have promised to do, by not breaching confidentiality
Reducing negative feelings and behaviours of clients and others, avoiding and defusing conflict
Gaining compliance – by giving reasons, by offering limited choices, without coercion
Eye contact and facial expression in communication, including making eye contact in order to gain compliance, to reassure, to signal attentiveness and avoiding eye contact with an aggressive person
Disengagement, i.e. temporarily breaking off an encounter, e.g. by moving away in order to enable a client to calm down
Physical contact, for example by providing psychological security or approval, while being aware of the risks of misinterpretation of this gesture
Distraction, i.e. either providing temporary distraction to divert a client from their own anxiety or pain, or teaching a client to develop their own distraction techniques
Modelling, i.e. displaying only acceptable behaviour in social situations, so that clients can learn to act similarly
Working alongside, i.e. engaging in the same activity you are trying to get the client to do, for example playing alongside an infant
Showing approval, for example giving praise
Setting challenges, i.e. suggesting achievable targets to clients. / Social perception
Observation
Communication
Encouraging
Creating trust
Reducing negative feelings
Gaining compliance
Eye contact
Facial expression
Disengagement
Physical contact
Distraction
Modelling
Working alongside
Showing approval
Setting challenges / Students work in pairs to write scenarios from the sectors which illustrate different caring techniques. These could then be role-played or discussed. Teacher provides definitions of each caring skill for the task. / AS level for Health and Social Care (AQA) by Neil Moonie. Page 23.
AQA AS Health and Social Care by Richard Smithson. Page 15.
www.skillsforcare.org.uk
“Foundation skills for caring” by Glasper, McEwing and Richardson. Palgrave MacMillan
3.1.3
Barriers to effective caring / Understand that there are barriers to effective caring. Understand that treating people well involves providing life quality factors which match the needs and personality of the individual.
Understand that there are ethical and practical reasons for treating people well.
One ethical reason is that those who provide care for others have a duty to maintain an acceptable quality of life for them.
Understand the following barriers:
· a practitioner having negative attitudes
· a practitioner holding stereotypes about certain groups
· a practitioner lacking motivation
· a practitioner not conforming with appropriate workplace norms
· a practitioner being preoccupied with their own needs
· a practitioner having a lack of skill
· a client perceiving themselves to be powerless
· a client hiding their real needs and concerns
· a client exaggerating needs and concerns
· a client behaving in a hostile manner. / Ethics
Duty of care
Attitude
Stereotype
Lacking in motivation
Inappropriate workplace norms
Preoccupation with own needs
Lack of skill
Powerlessness
Exaggeration
Hostile / Mix and match definitions activity – key terms with their definitions.
Careers advice column – students write letters about difficulties they are experiencing in the workplace with regards to caring. Swap with another student and advise them on how to overcome their barriers to effective caring appropriately.
Research ways in which different practitioners from across the sectors can be supported in their continued professional development. Students may like to take the opportunity of researching a job role they are interested in pursuing as a career. / AS level for Health and Social Care (AQA) by Neil Moonie. Page 18.
AQA AS Health and Social Care by Richard Smithson. Page 11.
3.1.4
Ways in which clients are treated badly / · neglect
· rejection
· hostility
· punishment
· bullying
· violence
· unfair discrimination on the basis of sex, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, social class, age and impairment. / Neglect
Rejection
Hostility
Punishment
Bullying
Violence
Discrimination / Research recent news articles showing elderly clients being treated badly in residential homes. Write a report which makes use of the key terms. / AS level for Health and Social Care (AQA) by Neil Moonie. Page 15.
AQA AS Health and Social Care by Richard Smithson. Page 10.
Online news articles relating to bullying, neglect, punishment etc in elderly residential care.
YouTube. Panorama – Care Home Abuse.
3.1.5
Types of communication / Verbal communication: speaking and listening, writing and reading.
You should understand how the following affect the effectiveness of verbal communication:
Matching the language and style of the communication to the clients in terms of:
whether to use technical terminology with or without explanation/definition of its meaning, or whether to avoid it and paraphrase (depending on the assumed familiarity of the clients with the topic)
the length and complexity of sentences (depending on the language comprehension skills of the clients)
whether or not to use humour
how formal or informal the style should be
whether or not to use colloquialisms
structuring a communication to give a logical progression of ideas (for example by appropriate sequencing of information and by using headings and recapitulation)
applying grammatical skills to avoid ambiguity
using words appropriately, i.e. with their conventional meaning, and with precision
fluency (the avoidance of clumsy or ponderous phrasing)
In addition, understand how the following affect written verbal communication skills:
· correct spelling and punctuation
· legibility
Understand how the following affect oral verbal communication skills:
using an appropriate speed of speech, clarity of utterance and loudness (to enable others to hear and understand)
using an appropriate pitch, and tone of voice (in order to avoid sounding bored or boring)
minimising hesitations and filled pauses (such as ‘err’ and ‘you know’)
(The above three skills are described in some sources as ‘paralanguage skills’ and categorised as aspects of non-verbal communication)
understanding and responding to questions and comments
Non-verbal communication: body language, facial expressions, gestures
Understand how the following affect non-verbal communication skills and support effective oral communication:
appropriate eye contact
use of facial expression (communicating confidence, interest, responsiveness)
use of body orientation and proximity (facing clients, appropriate distance for visibility and engagement)
use of gesture, posture and other body movements (to aid verbal communication, communicating confidence, without distracting)
use of supporting equipment including visual aids / Verbal communication
Paraphrasing
Colloquialism
Non verbal communication
Body orientation and proximit / Students brainstorm different methods of communication in a range of settings.
Discuss reasons for using different methods of communication.
View an episode of a television soap opera to analyse the body language used by different characters.
Select examples from the specification to illustrate how effective communication will change depending on the client and the setting, e.g. a discussion of when it is appropriate and when it is inappropriate to use humour.
Role play – good and bad examples of communication between a teacher / parents / student at a parents evening. / AS level for Health and Social Care (AQA) by Neil Moonie. Page 50.
AQA AS Health and Social Care by Richard Smithson. Page 38.
NursingTimes.net - Good communication helps to build a therapeutic relationship
“Effective Interactions with Patients” by A.Faulkner (2001),,Churchill Livingstone, London
“Effective Classroom Communication Pocketbook” by Richard Churches
3.1.6Communication difficulties / Know that sensory impairments including deafness and blindness can create communication difficulties, as can disability conditions causing reading difficulties, poorly-developed speech, slurred speech and aphasia.
Lack of skills, e.g. internet use in later adulthood.
Strategies for overcoming communication difficulties
Understand how alternative systems of verbal communication including British Sign Language, Makaton and Braille are used to overcome communication barriers. / Aphasia
Sight impairment
Hearing impairment
British Sign Language
Braille
Makaton / Work in pairs to research one or more alternative and
augmentative methods of communication, for example Braille, Makaton, British Sign Language (BSL) and the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Share findings with other pairs.
Discuss in groups/class what is needed for effective
communication and the consequences of poor communication.
Review examples of information literature from sector organisations and services. / AS level for Health and Social Care (AQA) by Neil Moonie. Page 56.
AQA AS Health and Social Care by Richard Smithson. Page 47.
www.stroke.org.uk
www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect (section on communication difficulties)
3.1.7
Barriers to communication / Understand how the following can be barriers to effective communication between clients and practitioners:
· lack of a common or shared language
· use of unfamiliar technical or dialect words or 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)
· practitioner’s lack of confidence or experience
· hostility between client and practitioner. / Dialect
Culture
Hostility / In pairs, brainstorm barriers to communication in settings and for clients identified by the teacher (teacher provides examples from the four sectors).
For each barrier identified, suggest ways in which they might be overcome. / AS level for Health and Social Care (AQA) by Neil Moonie. Page 58.
www.ican.org.uk
www.percyhedley.org.uk
www.nacro.org.uk Look at “ Speech, language and communication difficulties” under resources. This applies to young offenders.
3.1.8
Evaluating communication skills / Know that communication skills can be evaluated by assessing a practitioner’s use of the skills above and by assessing whether the style and content of communication is appropriate for the client/client group and setting. / Watch a ‘celebrity’ interviewer and evaluate the communication skills used, e.g. Jonathan Ross. As a contrast, you could also watch a clip of Michael Parkinson interviewing Meg Ryan. / AS level for Health and Social Care (AQA) by Neil Moonie. Page 94.
3.1.9
Communication when working in teams / Know that many care settings involve people working in teams of practitioners, some of whom have the same responsibilities, while others do not. Know that effective communication between team members is important for:
· ensuring continuity of care, for example when shifts change
· sharing essential information about client/client group needs
· informing practitioners of change in a client/client group’s condition
· avoiding or defusing conflicts between staff
· developing the caring skills of inexperienced staff
· supporting, guiding and encouraging staff. / Record keeping
Partnership working
Continuity of care
Summary care records
Conflicts / Discuss as a class what records are kept on them as students.
Make a list of the records kept on them to date. Who are these shared with?
Research the records kept about them at school / college
Identify how these records are used and shared.
Look at the school/college attendance policy and identify record keeping and partnership working within it.
Create a flow diagram of how information is shared within and across the sectors.
Class debate on what information should be shared.
Identify the key points as to why information must be shared.
Student research into summary care records. / AS level for Health and Social Care (AQA) by Neil Moonie. Page 63.
www.rcn.org.uk various articles of communication
The centre’s own communication policies (e.g. email policy, correspondence with parents, policies on grievance etc)
3.1.10
Clients and care settings / You should learn about the use of communication skills, and ways of overcoming communication barriers and difficulties with the following types of client:
· children and young people
· people with specific learning difficulty conditions
· people with sensory, speech or other communication impairments
· people with other disabilities
· people (including client’s relatives) attending an accident and emergency unit
· people resident in a hospital ward
· people in consultation with a practitioner
· people in later adulthood
· offenders / Students to select a client group from the list and produce a 5 minute presentation which outlines some of the communication skills and ways of overcoming barriers pertaining to their client / client group. These could be uploaded to the department’s Moodle site for other students to share. / AS level for Health and Social Care (AQA) by Neil Moonie. Page 66.
AQA AS Health and Social Care by Richard Smithson. Page 46.
List of some possible clients and settings (AQA meeting November 2012)
3.1.11