Challenges in the Health Communication Scenario
Effective health communication is a dynamic process where the sources and receivers are in continuous interchange of information to convey relevant information. The term ‘communication’ is the act of sharing information between different individuals in terms of concepts, ideas, behaviours and imaginations (Pesina and Solonchak 2014). It is the transfer of information between the entities conducted in two ways. Important elements in communication include sender, medium and recipient. The sender is the conveyer who has full understanding of matter wanting to deliver information. Recipient receives the information that the sender is to deliver over the platform through which there is conduction of information. Two types of communication are involved: verbal and non-verbal communication. These two aspects are important in conveying information between source and receiver accurately incorporating interpersonal skills like body language, eye contact, active listening, use of silence, questioning and opening or closing conversations (Ruben 2016). This skill help to communicate with others individually or in groups required in professional and personal lives. For an effective communication, both sender and receiver should be actively involved in the information exchange and so that messages are conveyed accurately between them (Bezner et al. 2017). Effective communication not only means talking, but also active listening. This means that the words being communicated should not only be understood, but also the emotions of the speaker who is communicating. Therefore, to demonstrate the aspects of an effective communication, the following essay would involve the communication that took place in the video ‘You are what you eat’ between holistic nutritionist Gillian McKeith and her client, Jane Henwood and daughter, Holly.
After analysing the video, there are major challenges witnessed in the video. The video highlights the communication that takes place between 42-year-old Jane and her12 year old daughter, Holly and their nutritionist, Gillian. The mother and daughter are obese and suffering from serious overweight problems. The mother hates cooking and anything that has to be done in kitchen. She finds convenience in eating ready-to-eat foods and passes this to her family. As a result, her daughter, Holly is also addicted to junk eating that is not only limited to her home, but also in her school while with her friends. Jane’s husband and son also consume junk food that is severely contributing to overweight and obesity in the family. Considering these factors, the nutritionist, Gillian McKeith came at their house to counsel them about healthy eating through effective communication and interpersonal skills.
Effective Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication Skills
In the video, the food pattern of mother and daughter depicts that there are ill effects of health and resulting in obesity and related disorders that are coming their way. After watching the video, I analysed that the mother is shy and not taking an active part in the conversation. She is not raising any queries and only answering the questions asked by Gillian. The nutritionist is a capable communication and trying every possible way to make Jane take an active part in the conversation. She exhibited excellent interpersonal communication skills that helped her to ensure trust and build rapport with the mother and daughter. There is appropriate execution of gestures, excellent verbal and non-verbal communication like gestures, empathy and use of silence to pass points to mother and understanding their health problems suffered by mother and daughter (Harrington and Valerio 2014).
Gillian seemed to be optimistic and assured mother and daughter in improving their health and providing them a better life. She made efforts to build a healthy relationship and rapport with mother and daughter so that Gillian is able to diagnose them and provide effective ways to deal with health problems that they are suffering from. The video also illustrated that Gillian explained Jane in the simplest possible manner about the ill effects that unhealthy eating (junk foods) can cause to them leading to obesity related problems. She showed empathy in understanding the underlying factors that made Jane and her family get adapted to this kind of eating behaviour (de Wit et al. 2018).
After evaluating the video, I found that Gillian demonstrated excellent communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal in understanding the health problems that her clients are suffering. Jane and Holly are fat, unhealthy and highly inactive. They consume a high amount of carbonated drinks that is the main cause of the headache that Holly is seen complaining in the video. These drinks contain high amount of diuretic caffeine that resulted in dehydration that the daughter is facing (Popkin, Bray and Hu 2014). There is also vitamin deficiency that Holly is suffering from as witnessed through cracks around her mouth. The high consumption of ‘ready to eat’, packaged foods is the main reason of obesity and associated problems that the family is experiencing as deduced from the video.
Gillian exhibited effective communication with her clients in making them understand the ill health factors contributing to their obesity and associated health problems. After seeing their daily food intake and diet, Gillian recommended them to have homemade meals with daily intake of fresh green vegetables and fruits convincing them to lead an active life with moderate exercises adhering to active lifestyle.
Empowering Health Knowledge
Health literacy is important as it evaluates the degree to which people have the capacity to receive, process and in understanding the basic health information so that one can make effective health decisions (Veenker and Paans 2016). This aspect also includes the healthcare services available for the people. In the given video, Jane and her daughter are highly engaged in unhealthy behaviour demonstrating poor health literacy contributed to obesity and associated health problems. Gillian explicitly empowered them and enhanced their health knowledge so that Gillian and her daughter lead a healthy life (Velardo 2015). There was successful communication between them that helped them realize the importance of dietary modifications required for them. The effective and engaging conversation initiated by Gillian convinced Jane to be engaged in healthy cooking and at the same time, realizing the importance of healthy eating and living.
Communication skills: Gillian as a healthcare professional exhibited several important skills in her communication with Jane and her daughter in the scenario. The concern of Gillian was regarding the well-being of Jane and her family. Holly who is 12 years of age, was already obese, and was frequent headaches. Gillian was almost instantaneous in identifying the various health risks due to their choice of food, and how that adds up to their obesity. Jane, who had confessed to hate cooking, and hence allows her family to eat ready to eat food, and failed to include any vegetables in their diet. Gillian pointed out the adverse effects of the poor choice of food, in a rather straightforward way, to ensure the maximum impression regarding the health effects they pose. Adler, Rodman and Cropley (1991) mentioned. that mass media allows several people in a given location to receive the same message simultaneously
Korkouta and Papathanasiou (2014) pointed out that good communication skills are essential to enable individualised care for patient. Berry (2006) also supported such a view, and also added that basic communication skills shuld include the ability to ask questions, explain a given information, attention and active listening, reflection and reinforcement as well as the ability to initiate and end conversations. Different communication skills, both verbal as well as non-verbal, were utilized in order to ensure proper communication. Her verbal approach was the utilization of a straightforward way to pointing out to Jane about the poor food choice. She did not beat around the bush, and cut straight to the chase, in pointing out how the fast food and fizzy drinks was affecting their health, like the headache problem faced by Holly, which could be attributed to the overconsumption of fizzy drinks high in caffeine content. Her choice of words often seemed to be very harsh, probably in order for Jane to realize the grave nature of the problem, and push her to take corrective measures before it was too late. Such an approach was effective in making Jane realise the problem, and take active steps to fix them. They gave serious effort to make changes in the diet, as recommended by Gillian, even though they were struggling to follow the diet initially. Gillian continued to provide support and feedback to Jane and her family adapt to the new diet, suggesting different ways how they can ease into the change. This can be related to the multi way process of communication, proposed by Corcoran (2007). Adler, Rodman and Cropley (1991) and Adler and Rodman (2012) also pointed out the mass media has an effect on the social and political environment in which they operate, and expresses the culture and history of a place.
Communication Skills
Body language is an effective form of non-verbal communication that can express thoughts (First Steps 2018). Gillian also used strong non-verbal cues, like body language and voice tone to show disapproval and disappointment towards the selection of food found in initial visits. Moore, Hickson and Stacks (2010) emphasized the importance of non verbal communication as an effective strategy to maintain meaningful communication . She would also frown frequently, expressing the disapproval, and use a high-pitched tone to convey the seriousness of the situation. Her posture also exhibited a feeling of annoyance. Gillian also kept a strong eye contact while sharing her thoughts, concerns or feedback with Jane or Holly, which was an important factor in effective communication. It must also be noted, that even though Gillian was direct and even little rude in her approach, she showed continued empathy towards the health concerns, especially for Holly, She was able to understand the health problems faced by both, and her suggestions or recommendations were made keeping in mind their likes and dislikes. Gillian was prompt to recognise the problem faced by Jane and her daughter, while adapting to the new diet, since it was new to them. She actively tried to ease them into the new diet, advising little changes that can make the food more palatable for them. There were also effective uses of pauses and silences throughout their conversation. The silences were mainly aimed to allow the points made by Gillian to sink in. She would frequently pause to allow Jane and Holly to contemplate on their own decisions, and how that might be affecting their health. Gillian also ensured that the conversation was to the point, and as precise as possible, whilst giving Jane and Holly enough information to make their own choices. However, Thonmpson (2011) also warned that poor communication can have negative consequesnces, while good communication can improve equality and well being among patients. This highlights the necessity of maintaining a good communication.
Abraham and Kools (2011) states that information sheets and written reports can be used to influence health related behaviour of people, however such attempt needs to identify how people read and process information, and how to design messages that are persuasive, and are easy to comprehend. Utilization of written reposts was hence a significant factor in the education of the client, influencing the change in their health related behaviour.
At the end of 8 weeks of intervention, Jane and Holly were finally able to change their diet to a healthy one, and were advocating healthy diet among their peers. This showed that Gillian was able to successfully educate and empower Jane and Holly about healthy lifestyle choices.
Barriers to communication: Button and Roserra (1990) points out that a diverse type of barriers can impede effective communication. Norouzinia et al. (2015) also added that some of these barriers can be removed by increasing awareness and creating a desirable environment that facilitate healthy choices. The major challenges that could be identified was a lack of education regarding the adverse effects of unhealthy, ready to eat meals, and fizzy drinks, as well the fact that Jane’s hatred to cook. Both of these factors actively contributed to the increased consumption of fast food by her family. This was a significant barrier to be overcome by Gillian, in order to impress them how their poor food choices in contributing to their obesity, and health issues, and can potentially cause even more health problems in the future. No other major barriers to communication could be identified, since Jane and her family were able to understand what Gillian was trying to say, and the health concerns she pointed out. Such understanding was reflected in the active efforts to make necessary changes in their diet as advised by Gillian. In addition, barriers towards effective communication were eliminated by the active efforts of Gillian. She avoided using complicated jargons that can be confusing, instead using simpler terms and contexts to explain her points. She was very attentive to what Jane and her family had to say, showing active listening skills. Gillian also had a neutral approach towards the lifestyle choices of Jane and her family, avoiding any stigmatizing, disparaging or insulting comments that could have hurt their sentiments, or complicate the communication. Similarly, she was able to identify stress experienced by the family as they were trying to make healthier lifestyle and diet choices, assisting and supporting them in the process of transition. MacDOnald, Sohn and Ellis (2010) added that social media can be another significant challenge for young healthcare professionals, as it can be a source of distraction and breach of privacy. However, students today are surrounded, more than ever with technology, with the newcomers or ‘naives’ trying to learn the new system, and the old timers ‘immigrants’ trying to adopt to the change. This points to the importance of integrating information technology and media in healthcare communication (Corcoran 2013; Lewis and Lewis 2014; Naidoo and Wills 2016; Scriven 2010).
Hence, Gillian was able to effectively circumvent all barriers to establish effective communication with Jane and her family and educating them on healthy lifestyle and diet choices.
Conclusion: With an overview of the above scenario, it can be concluded how effective communication style can be an important factor in healthcare system, as it allows understanding of the health concerns, and self-realization. As Laffrey, Fong and Loustau (1985) points out the need for self actualization and health conception in order to make appropriate choices concerning one’s own health. This is also supported by Brown and Ryan (2015), who suggests that motivation is vital for making behavioural changes, and that the type and extent of the motivation can decide the success from the change. Such idea is contained in the ‘Self Determination Theory’ (Deci and Ryan 2011; Gagne and Deci 2005). Gillian’s approach was to first point out the poor lifestyle and diet choices, and how that was affecting the health of the family, and then provides advice, support and motivation to help them make the correct choices (like changing diet and lifestyle). She was able to successfully help the family, to overcome their challenges, and improve their own health condition.
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