Psychosocial Nursing - Fundamentals and Advantages of Active Listening - Essay Example

Semester*: 2, 2013 Unit Code*: NUR112 Unit Name*: Psychosocial nursing Assignment Title*: Active listening Date Due*: Friday Week 5 Submission Date*: Lecturer’s Name*: Ms Robin Cross Student’s Full Name*: Neal Barker Student No*: s199181 Student’s Email: * neal.barker@students.cdu.edu.au Student’s Phone No: I declare that all material in this assessment is my own work except where there is a clear acknowledgement and reference to the work of others. I have read the University’s Academic and Scientific Misconduct Policy and understand its implications.* http://www.cdu.edu.au/governance/documents/3.3academicandscientificmisconduct.pdf I agree  I do not agree  Double click on the square check box to mark as checked. CHECKLIST* Please start your assignment on the following page. Task Checked 1 I have completed the form above*:  2 My CDU email address is activated*.  3 I have read and understood the important information on this form*.  4 I have kept a copy of my assignment*.  5 I have acknowledged and referenced the work of others*  6 I have filled in the footer page and indentified my file correctly*  7 I have save the assignment in a compatible format e.g. .Microsoft word doc or txt*  8 My assignment file size dose not exceed 2MB*  9 I have reread and checked all the assessment requirements.*  Active listening Introduction Active listening is an important aspect of communication as it helps to ensure better understanding. It is determined by understanding the manner in which the person listens and acts so that the stated objectives of the message can be attained. It is seen that when people interact with each other they don’t listen attentively, which at times results in conflicts and distracts the entire process of passing message from one person to the other. Having a clear cut communication process ensures that the message is passed on clearly from one person to the other and thereby ensures that the entire process gains effectiveness as the goals can be achieved easily. The importance of active listening increases in case of patient centred and patient directed care as human beings are involved and it is important that the message is properly listened as it could otherwise lead towards fatal injuries and risks. This paper thereby focuses on the different important elements of active listening, the manner in which active listening helps and highlights a method which will help to improve the process of active listening. This will thereby determine the direction and give the stated path through which the goal of the message can be achieved in the most productive and efficient manner. Active Listening Active Listening has been defined as a structured form of listening and responding which focuses on the speaker and tries to understand what the speaker is communicating. This thereby ensures that the listener can act in a correct direction and achieve the different objectives which have been determined. This process requires that the listener should pay complete attention to the speaker and then should repeat the same in his own words so that remembrance and understanding becomes better (Bacon, 2009). This doesn’t mean that the listener has to agree with what the speaker is saying but it is instead repeating what the speaker has said so that the completed message is understood and interpreted correctly. This will provide an opportunity to the speaker to ensure that the listener has understood the entire message correctly and provides an opportunity through which the speaker can make the changes and ensure that the listener is able to understand and interpret the message completely and correctly. Fundamentals of Active Listening The fundamentals of active listening involves the following steps Firstly is attending. This is the most fundamental step of active listening. It requires that the listener remains attentive and pays attention to whatever the speaker communicates. The listener at this juncture has to keep the focus and should be attentive. The speaker can also look towards noting down whatever the speaker communicates in which own language to ensure better understanding and also using the same in the near future (Katchen, 2006). This will also involve looking into different details and ensuring that the message is understood. Secondly is observing; this step looks at observing and noting down the different important points and objects that have been communicated by the speaker. This will involving observing the speaker completely and keeping the focus so that all the important aspects and points are clearly understood. This will help in case of patient centred and patient directed care as it will help to understand the different aspect which has been focused on. The overall focus will thereby improve as it will help to understand the different direction and aspect based on which better performance can be expected. Third is questioning. This aspect involves solving the doubts that the listener has by asking questions from the speaker. This is one of the most important steps in active listening as it will help to determine whether the person has been able to understand the complete message correctly. This will also require that listener looks at understanding the complete message by looking into every details. If required the listener can ask the same questions again and again as the intention at this point is to ensure that the listener is able to understand the complete message correctly (Vandergrift, 2009). This will help the listener to act in the desired way which the speaker wants and will help to develop the basic structure through which the process of active listening will provide maximum returns and understanding. Fourth is paraphrasing & summarizing: This step involves finding the important points and paraphrasing those points in the local language of the listener. This will also involve shortening the entire message but while looking to do so care has to be taken to ensure that the important points are not missed out. The process looks towards ensuring that the entire message is paraphrased in the own language so that the listener can use it in the future and understanding for the future becomes better. This will also act as a point of reference and will help the listener to read the message again and again based on which important inputs can be made which will thereby help to improve the focus and ensure that the overall process of understanding is better (Huang & Naerssen, 2007). This will thereby ensure that the entire message is clearly understood and will help the listener to act on the basis of it. Fifth is reflection of meaning. This step involves that the listener looks at presenting his own views and expression with the speaker. This could be either acceptance, frustration, anxiety or any other thing and helps the speaker to understand the attitude of the listener. This acts as a point which helps to reflect the personal feelings and thereby provides the important directives based on which the speaker can act so that the return and development for the future increases. This will help to ensure better results and will throw light on the different aspect with which the listener doesn’t agrees and will provide the required feedback for the future (Thompson & Rubin, 2006). Thus, the fundamentals of listening involve following the different steps and will help to improve the entire process of active listening. This will help to develop the individual and will ensure that process of active listening helps proper understanding and acting in the correct manner. Advantages of Active Listening Active listening helps to provide the following advantages Firstly, active listening ensures that the listener listens the entire conversation attentively which helps the speaker to ensure that he is able to communicate properly and motivates the speaker to provide complete and correct information to the listener Secondly, it helps to reduce the chances of misunderstanding as active listening ensures that the person listening to the message can look forward towards clarification. This will ensure that the listener is able to understand the complete message correctly and will reduce the chances of errors thereby ensuring better use of resources (O‘Malley, Chamot & Kupper, 2009) Thirdly, it helps people to open up as people can voice their opinion. This thereby ensures that the differences which exist between the people can be removed and will act as a point where individuals will be able to understand each other and act as a better team player. This thereby ensures that the entire team is able to focus on the objectives and improves the chances of being successful over a longer period of time Plan for Active Listening To ensure that proper listening takes place which will involve not missing any valuable information will require the following Firstly, listen to understand, not to respond: This will require that the listener listens to the entire message and doesn’t respond or ask questions but listens to the listener patiently so that the listener is able to complete the entire message. Secondly, eeing quite: It is imperative to be quiet as it will help to understand the entire message and will ensure that nothing is missed out. This will facilitate in understanding the complete message and will ensure maximum productivity Thirdly, maintain eye contact: It is important that the listener maintains eye contact with the speaker as it will help the speaker understand that the listener is concentrating. This will motivate the speaker to speak in a better way and will thereby ensure better communication (Chien & Wei. 2007) Lastly, ask questions, the listener should ask questions to the speaker to ensure that every aspect of the communication is clearly understood. This will help to ensure that the entire message is completely understood and will help to clear the doubts if they exist (Chien & Wei. 2007). The process of active listening will thereby require that the above steps are followed which will thereby ensure that the objectives are better achieved. This will help to ensure that the understanding is better and communication is complete. Conclusion Active listening is an important aspect of communication as it helps to ensure that the entire message is clearly passed and will help to develop the framework through which the message is better passed. This will help the listener to act in a correct manner and will thereby provide the required directives based on which efficiency can be achieved. References Bacon, S. M. 2009. The relationship between gender, comprehension, processing strategies, and cognitive and affective response in active listening. Modern Language Journal, Vol. 76, pp. 160-178, viewed on July 2013, via Emerald Insight Chien, C. N., & Li, Wei. 2010. Developing a model of listening strategies and processes for Active Listening. International Journal of Psycholinguistics, Vol. 13, No. 15, pp. 255-272, viewed on July 2013, via Emerald Insight Huang, X., & Naerssen, M. V. 2007. Learning strategies for oral communication. Applied Linguistics, Vol. 8, pp. 287-307, viewed on July 2013, via Sage Journals Katchen, J. E. 2011. Listening journals: A way to enhance students’ listening strategies.Papers from the Twelfth Conference on English Teaching and Learning in R.O.C., Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 393-412, viewed on July 2013, via Emerald Insight O‘Malley, J. M., Chamot, A. U., & Kupper, L. 2009. Listening comprehension strategies in second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, Vol. 10, No. pp. 125, 418-437, viewed on July 2013, via Industrial Relations Thompson, I,. & Rubin, J. 2009. Can strategy instruction improve listening comprehension? Foreign Language Annals, Vol. 29, pp. 331-342, viewed on July 2013, via Emerald Insight Vandergrift, L. 2009. Facilitating active listening comprehension: acquiring successful strategies. ELT Journal, Vol. 53, No. 237, 168-176, viewed on July 2013, via Emerald Insight Total /40 Less late penalty of 10% per day (If applicable) Adjusted total /40 Marker: Comments: Read More