Page 35 - Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills: A Guide for Professionals

to goals and plans for treatment.
Patient–provider communication is important in affecting health outcomes. Interpersonal communication

develops in a relationship between the provider and the patient or client in influencing health behavior
change. Healing relationships respond to the person as well as the task of exchanging health information and
providing patient self-management information. Helping and supporting people in managing their own
health promotes self-management.

CASE ANALYSIS 1

What are the barriers to communication in the case challenge?

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

We use two languages daily, our verbal language and our nonverbal or body language. Although both verbal
and nonverbal communication occur simultaneously during interactions, they are discussed separately here in
the context of their influence on the communication process.

Verbal Communication

To keep the communication channel open between the client or employee and the professional, one needs to
know how to create a supportive climate. A supportive climate is one in which as one person speaks, the other
listens, attending to the message rather than to his or her own internal thoughts and feelings. This creates a
climate of trust, caring, and acceptance. A defensive climate, which occurs when the other person is feeling
threatened or upset, creates the opposite effect, with the listener “shutting down.” When this happens, there is
little point in continuing the interaction because the message is no longer penetrating. Maintaining a
supportive climate becomes especially crucial when the professional is attempting either to discuss a topic
viewed differently, or to resolve conflict and defuse anger.

Families communicate at meal time.
Source: Pillitteri A. Maternal & Child Health Nursing, 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2003.

The verbal guidelines for creating a supportive communication climate are (1) to be aware of one’s choice of
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