Blessing Efionayi Communication and Interpersonal Skills , Assignment 2 Individual Presentation

ANALYSING STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION STYLE.

ASSIGNMENT TITLE: TASK 2. INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATION Course: Certificate of Higher Education in Health and Social Care Module Title: Communication and interpersonal skills

Student Name: Blessing Efionayi Student ID:

Introduction

• The presentation's title is “Analysing Strengths and Limitations of Non-verbal Communication Style.”
• The presentation aims at analysing non-verbal communication within health and social care.
• Body language, posture, eye-to-eye connection and facial expressions are all forms of non-verbal.
• Non-verbal communication assists healthcare workers in compassionate care for patients centred on the person's needs.

Description of Non-verbal Communication Style

Body Language

• Non-verbal Communication is defined as the communication without verbal or written language.
• Body language is made up of various gestures, posture, facial expression and eye contact (Diwan et al., 2024).
• Non-verbal cues in interpersonal healthcare interactions aid to understanding emotion.
• Non-verbal communication is used by healthcare providers to support the communication with patients.

Gestures

Non-Verbal Communication

Postures

Facial Expression

Eye Contact

Significance of Non-verbal communication style in health and social care

• Asking and answering questions increases patient trust in health care conditions in the UK.
• Patients' emotional and physical discomfort can be deduced by reading their facial expressions (Rasing et al., 2023).
• A direct eye to eye contact helps to foster ‘respectful’ communication for caring staff and vulnerable patients.
• The non-verbal is used to enhance compassionate care in social care in the UK.

Analysis of the strengths for using Non-verbal communication style in health and social care

• Non-verbal communication enhances emotional support of contentious areas of healthcare conversation.
• Body language assists communication with patients whose communication is impaired due to speech.
• Emotional intelligence leads to an empathetic approach and stronger relationships between UK health care professionals and patients, through the use of facial expressions (Louwen et al., 2023).
• Positive gestures promote patient cooperation with treatment and care activities.

Emotional Support

Emotional Intelligence

Speech communication

Analysis of the weakness for using Non-verbal communication style in health and social care

• Often there may be misunderstandings in culturally diverse UK healthcare settings based on non-verbal cues (Taylan and Weber, 2022).
• Emotions via the face may be unintended with patients.
• When spoken words don't accompany facial cues and gestures during complex healthcare conversations, it becomes unclear.
• Physical limitations may reduce patients’ ability to express non-verbal communication effectively.

Application of Non-verbal communication style in health and social care

• Eyes are used for patient centred care discussions.
• Facial expressions calm people during painful medical treatment processes (PU et al., 2025).
• Attentiveness and emotional support in counselling and emotional support sessions is communicated through the body posture.
• Hand gestures are used to aid communication with patients that have speech challenges (Kelly and Ngo Tran, 2023).

Situations considering Non-verbal communication style as effective

• Nonverbal communication is an effective way to effectively complement patients with communication issues related to their hearing loss.
• Patients with general anxiety are made at ease by facial expressions while receiving emergency health care treatment.
• It builds trust with mental health counselling and therapy sessions through eye contact (Hopewell-Kelly et al., 2026).
• Hand movements and position helps to communicate in dementia and elderly care contexts.

Hearing loss

Emergency Healthcare

Elderly Care

Non-Verbal Communication Application

Trust

Dementia

Challenges that are faced in applying Non-verbal communication style

• The non-verbal healthcare communication behaviours are defined differently between cultures.
• Stressed professionals can give away the fact that they are stressed through their non-communicative movements.
• There is a lack of effective usage of non-verbal communication in professional settings due to limited training (Khuman, 2024).
• Limited ability in non-verbal communication can be a drawback of physical disability in patients.

Recommendations on the Challenges in applying Non-verbal communication style

• It is important that all healthcare organisations offer these training programmes in non-verbal communication professionally, at regular passes.
• The provision of cultural sensitivity training should enhance diversity sensitivity among a range of patients (Lauwers et al., 2024).
• It is important for healthcare workers to display positive body language in patient interaction, regularly (Abdulghafor, 2022).
• Assistive technologies are meant to be used effectively for patients that have physical communication limitations.

Conclusion

• Non-verbal communication has a positive impact on enhancing acts of compassion in UK Healthcare services.
• Body language and expressions help patient understanding, emotional cushioning.
• When considering cultural differences and physical restrictions, communication can pose some health care problems.
• The teaching of professional skills assures an effective approach to non-verbal communication in the context of health and social care.

References

• Abdulghafor, R. (2022) ‘Body Language Analysis in healthcare: an Overview’, Healthcare, 10(7), p. 1251. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10071251.
• Diwan, A., Sunil, R., Mer, P., Mahadeva, R. and Patole, Shashikant P. (2024) ‘Advancements in Emotion Classification via Facial and Body Gesture Analysis: A Survey’, Expert Systems [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/exsy.13759.
• Hopewell-Kelly, N., Goss, S., Mann, M., Machin, L., Pickles, T., Field, F., Perna, L., Selman, L. and Harrop, E. (2026) ‘Non-verbal methods for assessing grief and mental health in children and individuals with additional communication needs: A scoping review’, Palliative Care and Social Practice, 20. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/26323524251413281.
• Kelly, S.D. and Ngo Tran, Q. (2023) ‘Exploring the Emotional Functions of Co‐Speech Hand Gesture in Language and Communication’, Topics in Cognitive Science [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12657.
• Khuman, P. (2024) THE IMPACT OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION IN TEACHING: ENHANCING EDUCATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS. Available at: https://www.gapbodhitaru.org/res/articles/(89-95)%20THE%20IMPACT%20OF%20NON-VERBAL%20COMMUNICATION%20IN%20TEACHING%20ENHANCING%20EDUCATIONAL%20EFFECTIVENESS.pdf (Accessed: 9 May 2026).
• Lauwers, L., Vandecasteele, R., McMahon, M., Maesschalck, S.D. and Willems, S. (2024) ‘The patient perspective on diversity-sensitive care: A systematic review’, International Journal for Equity in Health, 23(1), pp. 1–18. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-024-02189-1.
• Louwen, C., Reidlinger, D. and Milne, N. (2023) ‘Profiling health professionals’ personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence: a systematic review’, BMC Medical Education, 23(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04003-y.
• PU, L., GAMAGE, M.K., LI, N., BARTON, M., FEENSTRA, M., TODOROVIC, M. and MOYLE, W. (2025) ‘Reviewing the landscape of the decision-making process for pain assessment and management for people living with dementia: A systematic review’, Geriatric Nursing, 61, pp. 50–63. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.10.047.
• Rasing, N.B., van, Chan, Y.A., Mul, K., Lanser, A., Erasmus, C.E., Groothuis, J.T., Holler, J., Ingels, K.J.A.O., Post, B., Siemann, I. and N.C. Voermans (2023) ‘Psychosocial functioning in patients with altered facial expression: a scoping review in five neurological diseases’, Disability and Rehabilitation, pp. 1–20. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2023.2259310.
• Taylan, C. and Weber, L.T. (2022) ‘“Don’t Let Me Be misunderstood”: Communication with Patients from a Different Cultural Background’, Pediatric Nephrology, 38(3), pp. 643–649. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-022-05573-7.

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