Unit 1- Effective Caring Revision

1. Caring Skills and
Techniques

2. Observation
 Involves collecting information about clients
by taking measurements such as
temperature and blood pressure, or by
weighing them
 Also refers to noticing how a person is
behaving – for example, whether they are
eating or sleeping as usual or whether
something has changed

3.  In everyday life, observation tends to be
selective. This means we tend to focus on
things that interest us.
 As a care worker we have focus on all
aspects of the client’s measurements and
behaviours in order to understand their needs

4. Social Perception
 This means being aware of a person’s likely
feelings, needs and intentions.
 These factors can be shown by facial
expression, posture and tone of voice as well
as by what is said
 Perceptions can accurate and inaccurate and
we must be aware of making assumptions
that are wrong

5. Working Alongside
 This means working in contact with a client either by
doing what they are doing or by working on an
activity in order to encourage them to join in
 This is useful in situations in which clients might not
like to be approached directly, e.g. clients in a
residential home who suffer from dementia may not
recognise a carer and may respond better if they
can see the carer doing the same thing rather than
the carer telling them what to do

6.  Itis also useful when carers need to be seen
more as equals and less of a threat, e.g. a
parent may not like to get advice directly from
a nursery teacher but sitting in with a teacher
playing with the child will help them to see
how they themselves may play with their
children

7. Modelling
 This means observing and imitating the
behaviour of another person.
 Practitioners can help clients to learn new,
more effective ways of behaving by acting as
models
 Rather than telling someone how to behave,
the practitioner demonstrates appropriate
behaviour and encourages the client to copy
this

8.  An example of modelling may be to greet
clients with a warm smile and a cheerful
‘good morning’ when entering a room. Clients
may eventually greet you in the same way

9. Setting Challenges
 This means suggesting tasks or activities to
clients that will stimulate them and perhaps
help them to improve their abilities, skills or
confidence
 People recovering from disabling illness and
injuries can progress if they are set a
sequence of achievable physical challenges
that gradually become more demanding

10.  Children can also benefit from challenges,
e.g. a child who can easily complete a jigsaw
puzzle could be asked to complete it without
looking at the picture on the box or with the
pieces picture side down

11. Communication
 Communication does not just mean talking to
someone
 It includes:
- Good listening
- Allowing people to ask questions and giving
answers
- Using writing and reading
- Non-verbal communication

12.  As a skill used by a care worker,
communication means more than typical
everyday conversation
 Communicating with clients is how care
workers can assess the needs of the clients
and provide life quality factors

13. Encouraging adaptive
behaviours
 Adaptive behaviour is behaviour that tends to
increase the well being of a client
 Encouraging adaptive behaviour means
reinforcing behaviour that increases health
and well-being
 Maladaptive behaviour tends to harm a client,
either directly or by making other people
become hostile to the client

14.  Examples of maladaptive behaviour include:
- Aggression
- Dishonesty
- Self-harm
- Excessive use of drugs (including alcohol
and smoking)
- Care workers should try to avoid rewarding
maladaptive behaviours and concentrate on
encouraging more adaptive ones

15. Showing approval
 This
means giving positive responses to the
behaviour of a client, e.g. smiling or praise or
even a cuddle if appropriate

16. Physical contact
 Physical contact can be used to comfort a
client who is anxious or upset, as well as to
show approval
 Touching a client’s hand or arm, or putting an
arm around someone’s back can be very
reassuring and provides emotional security
 A direct look with a smile and a touch will
also show that you approve of a situation

17.  Touching someone with whom you are
unfamiliar is inappropriate, e.g. someone
from a different culture or a person who might
consider a touch as a sexual advance
 A care worker learns when to resist using
touch until he or she is sure that it will not be
misinterpreted

18. Creating Trust
 This means acting in such a way that a client
is likely to judge the care to be reliable
 In order to be reliable behaviour needs to be
consistent, i.e. behave in a similar way in
similar situations
 Reliable behaviour also involves following
correct procedures and keeping promises

19. Gaining compliance
 This means getting the client to do what is required
and is an important skill in a care setting
 Examples of situations where care workers need to
gain compliance include:
- A GP trying to get a patient to stop smoking
- A nursery worker trying to get children to wash their
hands
- A radiographer trying to get a patient to keep still for
an X-Ray

20. A care worker should not use an authoritarian
approach to order a client to do or not do
something, nor should a practitioner coerce
or threaten a client
 Remember that choice is an essential life
quality factor and client should be allowed to
choose whether to comply or not
 If a practitioner has created a trusting
relationship with the client then it is usual for
the client to comply

21.  Clients’ will be more willing to comply if they
understand why the practitioner wants them
to behave in a certain way, so using good
communication skills is important, e.g. ‘I
would like to take a blood sample from you to
test for infection (or diabetes etc.)’

22. Distraction
 This technique is most often applied to help
the management of temporary pain and/or
anxiety
 Distraction is a way of making people focus
on something other than the pain or anxiety,
e.g. waving a cuddly toy at an infant who is
receiving an injection

23.  Clientscan be taught self-distraction
techniques to help them cope with pain, e.g.
women in antenatal classes are told to say a
nursery rhyme to themselves when the pain
begins. Having to concentrate on
remembering the words lessons the
concentration on the pain

24. Reducing negative feelings
and beliefs
 Negative feelings include anxiety, sadness
and anger and can result in the client
behaving in negative ways, such as being
apathetic, self-harming, destructive or hostile
 These feelings and behaviours might be the
result of ill health, difficult circumstances or
the personality of the client
 Care workers may be able to help reduce
negative feelings and behaviours by the way
they respond to the client

25.  Care workers should not respond negatively
to a client. If a client becomes hostile,
responding aggressively by shouting back is
unlikely to diffuse the situation
 In conflict situations, it is sometimes a good
idea to withdraw from the client temporarily
 A care worker should remain calm which will
help to calm a panicking client

26.  Showing a client respect and approval can
also increase the client’s self esteem which in
turn will allow him or her to feel or behave in
a less negative way
 Never promise action you cannot fulfil in
order to reduce tension in a situation as this
will lead to a lack of trust and an increase in
negative feelings or behaviour
 As a care worker you need to try and reduce
the ‘emotional temperature’ of a situation

27. Disengagement
 This means temporarily withdrawing from
contact with a client
 As described earlier this can be useful when
a client is displaying negative behaviours
such as hostility or aggression
 Disengagement does not mean withdrawing
in a hostile way, e.g. walking out slamming
the door behind you. It is more sensible to
withdraw calmly perhaps explaining why you
are withdrawing

28. Eye contact and facial
expression
 Eye contact is an important part of using effective
communication skills
 Eye contact can help to establish trust between care
workers and clients
 Facial expressions are also important in
communication. A smile tends to produce a positive
response from clients
 Using positive eye contact and facial expressions
can also help gain compliance from a client

29.  Theuse of eye contact is not always
appropriate. If a client feels threatened, e.g. if
they are feeling angry or guilty about
something they may interpret eye contact as
being accusatory and/or hostile

30. 15 caring skills & techniques
 Observation  Showing approval
 Social perception  Creating trust
 Working alongside  Gaining compliance
 Modelling  Distraction
 Setting challenges  Reducing negative
 Communication feelings and behaviours
 Encouraging adaptive  Disengagement
behaviours  Using eye contact and
 Physical contact facial expressions