Undergraduate

Communication in health and social care

On this page

• What you will study
• Entry
• If you have a disability or additional requirement
• Study materials
• Teaching and assessment
• Students also studied
• Future availability

What do we mean by good communication? Does improving communication mean learning new skills, or changing the nature of the relationship between service providers and service users? Improving the quality of communication is now a key priority for health and social care: staff at all levels are expected to work in partnership with other agencies, and service users expect and demand greater equality in service provision. This course looks at communication in interpersonal, institutional and social contexts. You’ll also have opportunities to reflect on your own experiences and, by working with fellow students, analyse real-life examples and explore how practice can be improved.

Course facts

Register for the course

This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees and financial support may vary by country.

What you will study

Frontline workers are being encouraged to develop their communication skills and managers are under pressure to ensure that communication with service users, and between staff, is appropriate and effective. This wide-ranging course provides a critical understanding of how communication and relationships ‘work’ and how they can be improved.

The course covers both health and social care and is concerned both with caring relationships and with professional – and inter-professional – relationships. The emphasis throughout is on seeing communication in its interpersonal, institutional, and wider social contexts, while core themes of power, diversity and the emotional dimension of relationships underpin the course. There are frequent opportunities for you to reflect on your own experience (whether as a provider or service user) and to analyse real-life examples (including video scenarios) as a way of developing your own communication skills and strategies.

The course consists of five separate blocks, each integrating printed learning materials with media and online resources and activities.

Block 1 Concepts and contexts provides some key theoretical frameworks for understanding communication and explores the different contexts that influence interpersonal communication in health and social care, as well as the ways in which those contexts are changing.

Block 2 Analysing aspects of communication looks at the ways in which issues of power and diversity shape interactions between care providers and service users. The block explores the ways in which language is used, and the role of the body in health and social care.

Block 3 The person in the process examines the qualities, skills and strategies that are needed for effective communication, and how these can be developed. The block explores the emotional impact of caring relationships, with a particular focus on difficult and challenging encounters.

Block 4 Communication and relationships in organisations – dementia care – considers the way that organisations affect the quality of care. You’ll work through a series of activities associated with DVDs and audio to consider the reality of that care and how it might be improved. The focus is on dementia care but the ideas can be applied to any organisational setting in health and social care.

Block 5 Communication, relationships and care in practice provides an opportunity to apply what has been learned from the earlier blocks to an extended case study, spanning a range of care services and contexts. There are also opportunities to review learning from across the course and to apply it to personal experience and everyday practice.

Online activities

You are required to go online about once every two weeks, for either a forum discussion or internet-based activities. The overall time will be no less than ten hours. This time estimate does not include time spent on optional contributions to the course-wide student forum.

Entry

K309 is a Level 3 course and you need a general understanding of the health and social care field, as well as good study skills, obtained either from Level 2 study with the OU or from equivalent work at another university. If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.

Preparatory work

You will need basic computer skills. Experience of accessing the internet is desirable. You will receive guidance of how to get started online in your first course mailing. This will provide you with information on using your computer for OU study and working with the Computing Guide. For example, it explains how to access and use your website and online discussion forums. If you have time before the course starts, you can work through this and explore all the online services available to you.

If you have any doubt about the level of study, please seek advice from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.

If you have a disability or additional requirement

Written transcripts of any audio components and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader. Other alternative formats of the study materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.

If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our publication Meeting Your Needs.

You can also find information about accessible study materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.

Study materials

What's included

Course books, other printed materials, CDs and DVDs. You will have access to a website through which teaching and library resources are available. Electronic versions of most of the printed study materials are provided on the website.

You will need

A DVD player and a CD player.

The audio-visual components of this course are delivered on a DVD that will play on a standard DVD player and television. If you want to view this on a computer, it will need a DVD-ROM drive and software for viewing DVDs.

Computing requirements

This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.

You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2005 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.

Teaching and assessment

Support from your tutor

You will have a tutor who will help you with the study material and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. We may also be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged to attend. Where your tutorials are held will depend on the distribution of students taking the course. Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.

Assessment

The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.

You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.

Assessment is an essential part of the teaching, so you are expected to complete it all. You will be given more detailed information when you begin the course.

Students also studied

Students who studied this course also studied at some time:

• Managing care (K303)
• Critical social work practice (K315)
• Applied social work practice (K216)
• Working for health (K203)
• Challenging ideas in mental health (K272)

Future availability

The details given here are for the course that starts in February 2013 when it will be available for the last time. 

Fees 2012

See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.

Study explained

Financial support

- find out if you qualify for support with your fees with our eligibility checker.

Study explained

- all you need to know about distance learning with the OU.

Student Reviews

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Your questions

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Or contact an adviser in our Student Registration & Enquiry Service Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90+44(0) 845 366 60 35

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