Edexcel Level 3 BTEC Nationals in Health and Social Care

UNIT 1: DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CAREEssential guidance for tutorsDeliveryThis practical unit should be delivered with a mixture of tutor input and learner-ledactivity, such as role plays and case studies. Learners should be given opportunitiesto develop and practise important communication skills. The unit introduces learnersto the theoretical concepts behind communication such as the imbalance in powerinherent in the helping relationship, empowerment and learned helplessness. Thereare strong links with Unit 6: Personal and Professional Development in Health andSocial Care, and Unit 2: Equality, Diversity and Rights in Health and Social Care. Itwould be good practice if the same tutor could be responsible for delivering all threeunits.Learners should be encouraged to investigate methods of communication andinterpret interactions that are also relevant in health and social care settings. Peerobservations, class discussions and vocational experience will help to broadenlearners’ understanding. Learners should explore the processes of teamwork anddecision-making relevant to health and social care settings in order to enhance thedelivery of this unit. They should also be encouraged to review, evaluate and improvetheir own skills in communication and interpersonal interaction skills.Learners should demonstrate an awareness of the equality and diversity of peopleand their rights and responsibilities. Examples could be taken from personalexperience, television programmes and current newspapers. Video and multimediapresentations can be useful in demonstrating social and cultural differences incommunication. A guest speaker would be particularly appropriate to provide insightsinto cultural differences in communication.When looking at factors that enhance communication, learners find it relatively easyto identify certain factors such as body language and trust. However, they also needto recognise why empathy, responsiveness, attentiveness and respect are soimportant. Many of the skills in this unit — prompts, reflection, empathy, open-endedquestions — can be developed in a counselling skills training format. Others, such asassertiveness, can be developed through role play. When developing theirassertiveness skills, learners will need to distinguish between being assertive andbeing aggressive.Learners need to grasp that good communication is as much a question of values aseffective skills. Sometimes the easiest way to get this across is to talk about whatmakes communication ineffective. Can learners identify times when someone did notlisten to them, looked through them or patronised them? How did they feel whenthey were treated this way? How did they feel when they told a friend about aproblem, only for the friend to off-load their own experiences back?Considering their own experiences gives learners an insight into being on thereceiving end of poor practice. It also helps them to see how self-esteem isinextricably linked with good communication practices.34BN018467 – Specification – Edexcel Level 3 BTEC Nationals in Health and Social Care– Issue 1 – February 2007 © Edexcel Limited 2007