Diverse Populations Flashcards
Who are Diverse Populations?
- Ethnicity
- Language
- Sexual Orientation
- Age
- Gender
- Geography
- Education
- Life Experience (employment, family challenges etc.)
Deaf
The term given to a person who has some degree of hearing loss (usually profound and from a young age) who identifies as belonging to the deaf community and uses sign language as their preferred language.
Hearing Loss
Someone who is hearing impaired, has difficulty hearing speech sounds, and uses spoken language as their preferred language.
For Communicating with People with Hearing Loss
- More words, not less.
- Consonants are often lost so put messages into as much context as possible.
- Sometimes written notes don’t help as deaf people can have low levels of literacy.
- Use a sign language interpreter
Inclusive Language Examples
- Put the person not the disability first.
- Be aware of limiting talk.
Dementia
A brain related disorder caused by diseases and other conditions. - Genetic Involves loss of - Memory - Intellect - Rationality - Social Skills - 'Normal' emotional reactions
Communication Issues for Those with Dementia
- Difficulty finding words
- Using speech that doesn’t make sense
- Deteriorated writing and reading skills
- Loss of normal social convention of conversation
- Difficulty expressing emotion
Barriers to Communication: Dementia
Patient has a decline in cognitive abilities and sensitivity to emotional distress.
Staff-patient ratios are often inconsistent and there is not enough time to spend with each person.
Environmental challenges can consist of unfamiliar challenging environments.
Dementia and the Brain
In dementia, the information stored on the left side of the brain (vocabulary, formal language etc.) is lost, while the right side (racial slurs, forbidden language etc.) are retained.
Dementia Behaviour-Communication
- Aggressive speech or actions
- Confusion about time or place
- Poor judgement or cognitive problems
How NOT to communication with people with dementia
- Argue
- Order the person around
- Focus on what they can’t do
- Be condescending
- Don’t ask questions that rely on memory
- Don’t talk in from of them as though they aren’t there
M.E.S.S.A.G.E
Maximise attention Expression and body language Keep it Simple Support the conversation Assist the visual aids Get their message Encourage and engage in communication.
S.P.I.K.E
S- Setting - private setting, setting without interruptions
P- Assessing the Patients Perception - Checking what the patient has already been told and checking their understanding of the situation.
I- Obtaining the patient’s INFORMATION- Some patients font ask about the situation, so asking about how they would like the information (all at once, alone etc.)
K- Giving KNOWLEDGE and information to the patient - Can start by ‘warning’ the person that they are about to be told bad or sad news. Can be useful to give info in chunks and check understanding as you go along.
E- Addressing the Patients EMOTIONS with Empathetic responses - Observe and identifying the emotions apparent, connect the emotion with the reason, ask if unsure.
Communicating with children age 0-2
Skills; - vocalisation - recognise words - experiment Communicate; - facial expressions - clear sounds
Communicating with children age 2-6
skills; - language development - understanding - express themselves communicate; - simple language -repetition, rhythm and song - stories and narratives
Communicating with children age 4-6
skill; - understanding order - perspective taking -empathy - concrete understanding communicate; - rhymes and riddles - jokes - simple explations
Communicating with children age 7-10
skills; - understand logic and structure - organise ideas -reading communicate; - stories about friendship, skills and talents - critical thinking and problem solving
Communicating with children age 11-14
skills; - moral understanding - rational debate - sophisticated language (sarcasm, coding). communicate; - moral standards - independence - exchange of ideas - dyadic discussion
principles of communicating with a child
- be age appropriate and child focussed
- address the child holistically
- be positive and strength based
helping a child problem solve
- Listen carefully and politely. Don’t interrupt the child when he is trying to tell his story.
- Don’t be a wipe out artist, unravelling minor threads of a story and never allowing the child’s own theme to develop.
- Don’t ask why but do ask what happened
- If you have knowledge of the situation, confront the child with the information that you know or have been told.
- Keep adult talking and moralizing to a minimum because they are not helpful in getting communication open and keeling it open.
- Assist the child in planning some specific steps to the solution.
- nonverbal communication
- words of encouragement
autism
- Austism is a spectrum
- Autism refers to developmental delays
Communicating with a person with autism
- Acknowledge social differences
○ Cognitive
○ Sensory
○ Language- Fear of the patient/person impeded communication
○ Increase your knowledge - Communication is an interaction
○ Be aware of your own communication limitations
○ Sensory awareness
○ Improves: trust, compliance, health seeking behaviour, diagnostic, reasoning, quality screening.
Check for understanding - for yourself and patient.
- Fear of the patient/person impeded communication
DON’Ts for communicating with autistic people
- Patronise, demean or stereotype
○ Reinforce stigma- Talk down or exclude
○ Poor eye contact does not mean the person is not listening - Get offended by frank and honest responses
- Make assumptions!
- Overload multiple senses!
- Generalise - we all have individual differences
- Talk down or exclude
strategies for communicating with people who are acutely psychotic
- Notice, don’t ignore
- Be encouraging and supportive
- Show empathy
- Honesty and respect
- Observe first
- Slow your speech
- Use simple vocabulary
- Be comfortable with silence
- Be flexible
- Consult family/friends
- Choose location
- Give advance notice
- Provide positive feedback and encouragement
- Be assertive
- Be more visual or demonstrative than usual
- Listen to their experience
