FACTORS Affecting COMMUNICATION

FACTORS THAT DIRECT COMMUNICATION PATTERNS

Therapeutic communication and its effectiveness is influenced by various factors that direct the processes including;

ATTITUDE:
• The nurse’s attitude sets the mood of the nurse-client relationship
• The client needs to be approached in an unhurried manner, avoiding abrupt or indifferent responses to feel valued and respected.
• The client is more likely to be cooperative and participate in treatment when the nurse uses a calm, concerned approach

TRUST:
• Trust and communication is the most important element in promoting development of courage, inner security and self confidence that makes the client more functional.

• Building trust involves a number of conditions such as the following;

EMPATHY:
• Signifies a central focus and feeling with and in the client’s world. It involves accurate perception of the client’s world by the helper, communication of this understanding to the client and the client’s perception of the helper’s understanding.

• To practice empathy is to maintain one’s own identity while feeling with another; it is to be objective while at the same time offering support and understanding.
LANGUAGE:
• Words are the central part of codes and their meaning vary among people, cultures, states and countries.
• The key to effective therapeutic communication is congruency between what the client says and the nurse’s interpretation of the message.

CULTURE:
• Communication is difficult at best, but when the sender and receiver are from different cultures, the difficulty becomes even more pronounced
• Clients need to feel accepted and be treated with respect even though they are culturally different.

PERCEPTION:
• Perception is the way events are interpreted through sensory stimulation.

• Thoughts are stimulated by perceptions and feelings responds to thoughts
• Self awareness is the key to understanding inaccurate perceptions and observations of clients response