Developing Effective Communications in Health and Social Care

Have a little read: ... Developing Effective Communications in Health and Social Care Describe the Stages of the Communication Cycle and Reflect On Your Own Experiences (P2) The Communication Cycle was first identified in 1965 by Charles Berner. A few years later, Michael Argyle (1972), said that interpersonal communication was a skill that had to be learned, just as you would learn to drive a car. He said that when you are driving a car, you have to change your method to match the conditions of what is happening on the road. Driving involves a constant cycle of watching what is happening in the road, working out how to respond, making the required responses and then repeating this cycle until the end of your journey. Argyle argued that, communication involved much the same 'cycle' as driving a car required. The stages involved in this cycle are: 1. Ideas occur 2. Message coded 3. Message sent 4. Message received 5. Message decoded 6. Idea understood To enable the cycle to work successfully, two or more parties must be present. Communicating involves expression of thought and interpretation of the other parties understanding. There are six stages to the communication cycle, the first is expressing your own thoughts, and the second is watching the other person non verbal response and body language. Thirdly is interpreting the other person's body language and trying to work out what he or she is thinking, fourth is listening to his or her response to what we have said, following this is trying to make sense of his or her response. Finally the original speaker expresses new ideas to try and clarify our ideas. The communication cycle may look something like this: 2. Message coded We use the communication cycle every time we interact with other people. We use this process without even thinking about it. An example of this in an everyday situation, whilst speaking to my husband: 1. Idea: Hungry 2. Message coded: I'm hungry, I need food 3. Message sent: "I'm hungry, I fancy something to eat". 4. Message received: I can tell from his body language that he has heard my message, he nods his head slightly 5. Message decoded: He decodes the message in his head 6. Message understood: He understands what I have said After the last stage of the cycle, a response would, in this instance, automatically follow. This response would be the answer to my initial question to him; so starting off another communication cycle process. To use the communication cycle effectively it requires active listening, this involves hearing what