Communication in Health & Social Care - Essay Example

This paper will look at communication in the health and social care area and the factor that affect communication in this sector. Factors that affect communication in health and social care area include beliefs and values. Service providers should embrace cultural diversity in order to be able to offer services. If the care giver is not aware of cultural diversity, it is impossible to communicate effectively. Care givers should be competent in the knowledge of culture. This is because people in every culture have their beliefs and values.

In a place where there is multiculturalism it may be difficult to communicate (Dickson, Hargie & Morrow, 1996). This calls for care givers to be well informed when it comes to the culture of people they are serving. People perception and understanding of heath and heath care process is developed through their culture and social values. Peoples’ thinking on health and social care is based on their beliefs and values. In the United States health and social care providers are socialized into the culture of their profession.

They are trained in the western scientific or biomedical global view (Argyle, 1994). This teaches the professionals to hold and accept beliefs, norms, and values. This is good because the care givers who know their culture can also appreciate other people’s culture. The more a care giver knows of their culture the more they can accept the patients’ world view. Beliefs of people can affect their compliance with treatment, thus a health care giver should always be able to understand the beliefs of a patient for the service provided to be useful.

The care giver should respect the patients’ beliefs and not dismiss their traditional practices. Some beliefs can make a patient lose trust on the care provider thus losing cooperation needed for successful healing and therapeutic relationship. For example, beliefs on herbal medicine may make a