Interpersonal Skills

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

Introduction

The interpersonal and intrapersonal skills that an occupational therapist should possess are vital to the outcome of a successful therapist-client therapeutic relationship. The occupational therapist must have an excellent communication skills in order to effectively relate to the client, collect sufficient information from the client and consequently deliver high-quality healthcare.

The field of Occupational Therapy is the health professional discipline I have chosen to undertake in this assignment. This essay aims to discuss the specific communication and interpersonal relationship features that characterise occupational therapy and the particular intra-personal qualities that practitioners would need to work successfully in this practice. The specific communication skills that would be essential in such situations will also be discussed. The degree to which I possess these qualities will be reflected and determine what I could improve and develop.

Communication and interpersonal relationship features

Therapists must have the ability to communicate happily and productively with the client and use communication skills such as listening, problem solving, teaching, and counselling (Craven & Hirnle, 2003).

The ability to listen and to be attentive to the client is highly beneficial to the occupational therapist. The therapist is able to obtain information for written reports and also conveys to the client that the therapist is interested in them. As well as listening to the verbal cues given by the client, the therapist must also pay attention to the non-verbal cues. The correct recipe is to fully attend, listen and then respond (Rungapadiachy, 1999).

Therapists solve problems by interacting and working with the client, their family members, and other healthcare team members. Occupational therapists take everyday activities that people are having difficulty performing, for whatever reason, physical, emotional or some other, and help them to do those things again (Labovitz, 2003). Occupational therapists help clients help themselves.

Every healthcare professional must communicate observations to the healthcare team in both oral and written form. It is critical that this communication is of high quality so that the healthcare delivered is able to meet the client's needs. Therapists are required to be knowledgeable, articulate, and capable of valuable written and verbal expression (Craven & Hirnle, 2003).

Non-verbal communication is highly important when dealing with the client. The occupational therapist must consider personal space, eye contact, body language and posture. The occupational therapist must take into consideration the culture of the client, and that culture's acceptability of personal space and touch. Different cultures prefer different degrees of closeness in personal space (Balzer-Riley, 2004). It is important in some cultures to hold direct eye contact, yet some cultures find direct eye contact rude and intrusive (Balzer-Riley, 2004). Body language and posture are key ways for an occupational therapist to display warmth to a client. A client will feel comfortable and this will lead to a more open and full relationship (Balzer-Riley, 2004). It is important that this sort of relationship is established in rehabilitation as the client is often under a considerable amount of stress and may find it hard to open up to another person. A shift of posture toward the client, a smile, direct eye contact and motionless hands are good ways to display warmth (Balzer-Riley, 2004).

Intra-personal qualities

To achieve an effective relationship with a client, there are particular intra-personal skills that should be obtained. An occupational therapist must be respectful, trustworthy, empathetic, genuine, confident, and have good self-awareness. A health professional should continually reflect on his or her interactions with their client so that they can understand their strengths and weaknesses when providing care to the client (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2004).

Respect for the dignity and worth of the client is essential for the relationship to be successful (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2004). A health professional must have respect for a patient's culture and beliefs. Receiving respect will make the client feel important, cared for, and worthwhile (Balzer-Riley, 2004). Respect has a positive effect on the way in which the client complies with the therapist and the rehabilitation and healthcare that they receive (Balzer-Riley, 2004).

The therapist-client relationship differs from a social relationship in a way that the needs of the client always comes first. The occupational therapist motivates others to cultivate inner motivational resources that allow them the greatest opportunity possible to develop, grow and regulate their own behaviour (Reeve, 1996). This means that the therapist is in a privileged position because of the trust the client give to the therapist in the course of rehabilitation.

Empathy is understanding clearly the thoughts and feelings of another person (Mckay & Fanning, 2000). Empathy involves listening carefully, asking questions, setting aside your value judgements and using your imagination to understand another's point of view, opinions, feelings, motivations and situation. An occupational therapist should always show empathy toward the client as this will deepen the therapist-client relationship and increase the clients feeling of being connected to another person. The feeling of belonging helps to reduce the client's negative feelings of loneliness and isolation (Balzer-Riley, 2004). Empathy gives the client the needed confirmation that you understand their point of view and how they are feeling. There is nothing so accepting as having others verbally acknowledge that they understand our feelings (Balzer-Riley, 2004).

For a therapist to be genuine, their true thoughts and feelings must be presented to the client or colleague (Balzer-Riley, 2004). The therapist must send the client the real picture of themselves, not a distorted one that differs from how they really think or feel (Balzer-Riley, 2004). Being genuine is risky as it involves the health professional expressing negative thoughts and confronting the client and colleagues with their reactions (Balzer-Riley, 2004). Genuineness shows the therapist's openness and tells the client or colleague that they are able to express their true thoughts and feelings (Balzer-Riley, 2004).

Self-confidence