In the health, community and social services sectors, the focus of communicating should be on demonstrating respect, ensuring the person understands, clarifying what you have heard and ensuring confidentiality.
When you use different communication techniques, you can communicate with a diverse range of people and demonstrate empathy, respect and awareness of cultural differences.
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When you are talking to someone, it is important to understand the influence that grammar, speed and pronunciation can have on the message you are trying to communicate. Select the items on the image to reveal more information.
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Nonverbal communication
Research has shown that nonverbal communication is as important as verbal communication when understanding a message.
It is important to understand how nonverbal factors such as body language impact your communication with others and how observing other people’s nonverbal communication can help you understand them.
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When working with clients, nonverbal communication can look like the following:
| Type of Communication | Description |
|---|---|
| Body language and posture | Patrea folded her arms across her chest to reinforce that the answer was still no and that she would not change her mind. |
| Evasive eye contact | Nadia avoided making eye contact because she was uncomfortable with the confrontation. |
| Hand gesture | Tony waved his hand as he dismissed the matter to reinforce to Amanda that the mistake didn’t matter and that she should stop worrying about it. |
| Reassuring touch | Jason placed his hand on Donald’s shoulder to remind him that he was standing close by and would not let him fall over. |
Respecting the rights and responsibilities of others
Respect for others is demonstrated through your speech, behaviour and attitude.
Some ways in which you can demonstrate respect to others include:
- Maintain and promote dignity, choice and empowerment.
- Advocate for the needs and rights of the people who access services.
- Use inclusive and appropriate language to describe people and communities.
- Involve people who access services in planning and decision-making processes.
- Actively listen to others and clarify their messages.
- Ensure physical environments cater to people with diverse needs to communicate confidentially and in a safe space.
- Seek regular feedback from people accessing services.
Respect is a critical foundation of work in the health and community services sectors and is also embedded in the policies and procedures of organisations and professional standards. For example, the Australian Community Workers Association’s Code of Ethics includes the obligation of the worker to treat clients with dignity and respect the skills, knowledge and experience of their colleagues.
A code of ethics is a set of guiding principles or guidelines that members of a group must follow or are expected to uphold.
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Read the Australian Community Workers Association’s Ethics and standards to
understand the ethical and practice benchmarks for community workers per industry and public expectations.
Case study
Read the below case study about how workers communicate with Hy, a resident with difficulty understanding verbal communication.
Hy is an older man with a physical and intellectual disability. He requires assistance from workers to get in and out of his chair and to walk and has trouble following verbal instructions.
Sometimes, he becomes distressed when workers try to help him out of his chair. The workers at the care facility use nonverbal communication to reassure him and indicate what he needs to do. They begin by putting his walker in front of him and patting it.
Once standing, one of the workers walks forward and then turns, smiling and gesturing for Hy to follow. Another worker holds Hy and the walker and takes a step forward so that he can see the action and follow along.