One to One Evaluation
Describe the interaction which you participated in and include a detailed description of your communication:
I had an informal one to one conversation with my Dad about his health. I know that my Dad’s first language is English and that this is the only language he speaks, I also know that his preferred method of communication is oral communication. During our conversation we were sat in our living room at home on chairs that allowed us to face each other at a good distance of proximity between us: this gave us personal space yet enabled us to see one another. Our conversation took place around dinner time (1pm), this meant that we did not need to adjust the lighting as the light coming through the windows was bright enough for us to see one another.

In terms of your communication what went well?
I already knew that my Dad has had previous heart attacks, he suffers from angina and has type 2 diabetes and he is at a high risk of developing type 1 diabetes but as well as this he also told me that he has high blood pressure and his cholesterol levels have been “ok” lately. He told me that he goes to the doctors every 3 weeks, when he goes a nurse takes his blood pressure and the doctors usually tell him to keep taking his medication, drink less, improve diet, eat less and exercise.
From the information my Dad told me it proved that we have a good relationship. Through non-verbal communication I could tell that he was comfortable to talk to me: his tone was calm and clear and I used reflective listening and eye contact, this showed him that I was engaged in the conversation and listening to everything that he had to say.
What didn’t go so well in terms of your communication?
As I know my Dad very well I know when he is lying not only through non-verbal communication but through what I actually visually see when I see him and I found that he wasn’t completely honest about everything that he said during our one to one conversation.
He told me that when he last visited the doctors they advised him to stop drinking alcohol, he also told me that instead of completely stopping he has lowered his intake. I know that this isn’t true, although he doesn’t drink a lot, his alcohol intake has remained the same rather than increasing and decreasing for a while. This shows that my Dad lied during our one to one however, I don’t believe that this was intentional as from his body language and the certainty in his tone of voice, I could tell that he personally believes that he has lowered his intake.
How could I improve my practice in terms of my communication skills?
I fully understand that my Dads health is very bad and will further deteriorate if he does not follow what doctors and nurses have advised him to do for years (improve diet, eat less, exercise and stop drinking alcohol) however I did not offer my Dad any help during our one to one conversation: I didn’t ask to see if there is anything he feels that I can do which will help him to avoid his health deteriorating. This is because I have not only offered help but I have physically tried to help him for years:
I have previously tried many ways to help improve his diet (diet plans, went on diets with him)
I have tried encouraging him to exercise
Now that I am 18 I refuse to buy alcohol for him
However every time that I have attempted to help him, it proves pointless as although he is completely aware of how drastically his life may be affected he doesn’t try and improve his health, also he still does not show that he cares enough to want to try and improve his health. Instead of not offering help I could improve my communication by offering help and constantly trying to motivate him to improve his health as I understand that in order for his health to improve he needs to follow what doctors have told him to do.

Evaluate your interaction making use of recent research or different theoretical perspectives that we have studied.
When having the one to one