Communication Skills in Social Work Practice

Practice vocabulary flashcards covering the core communication concepts, interpersonal dynamics, psychodynamic terms, non-verbal communication types, and interviewing stages in social work practice.

Intellectual (Cognitive) Level of Listening

A level of listening that requires attentive and accurate listening to the content of the communication, focusing specifically on factual information.

Emotional (Affective) Level of Listening

A level of listening that requires recognizing and responding to what is being communicated emotionally, both verbally and non-verbally.

Non-Verbal Communication

Communication conveyed through body language, movement, posture, or voice inflection, estimated by Birdwhistell (1970) to represent approximately two-thirds of communication.

Empathy

Attempting to put oneself in another person's place in the hope of feeling and understanding their emotions, thoughts, actions, motives, unique point of view, and the meaning of their experience (Trevithick, 2005).

Emotional Attunement

The capacity of a professional to recognise what a service user is feeling by paying close attention to their verbal language and body language (Koprowska, 2005).

Accurate Empathy

Responding to an individual in a way that accurately reflects the person's experience, behaviours, and feelings (Egan, 1994).

The Unconscious

Aspects of mental life, behaviour, thoughts, and feelings that are not consciously accessible to an individual (Trowell, 1995).

Defence Mechanisms

Behaviours that an individual resorts to when overwhelmed by anxiety, used as a means of keeping the anxiety in the unconscious.

Denial

A defence mechanism characterized by refusing to accept something.

Repression

A defence mechanism that involves avoiding a difficult experience by forgetting it.

Regression

A defence mechanism involving behaving as if at a younger developmental stage in response to a stressful event.

Transference

Placing feelings and expectations linked to past significant relationships (such as primary caregivers) onto a current relationship.

Counter-Transference

The feelings stirred up in the professional or therapist in response to the client's experiences, which may mirror those of the client or belong to the practitioner.

Projection

The capacity to place unwanted aspects of one's own psyche into someone else, splitting the 'good' and 'bad' aspects of the self and disowning the unacceptable 'bad' parts.

Authenticity

The congruence between what a worker says, feels, and does, enabling them to relate to others with integrity 'person to person' while being conscious of their own feelings, values, and agency role.

Respect for Persons

The ability to communicate acceptance and valuation of people irrespective of their personal qualities and social or professional position, embedded within honest and transparent relationships.

Chronemics

A category of non-verbal communication related to timekeeping, including promptness and the likelihood of individuals arriving too early or too late (Kadushin and Kadushin, 1997).

Artificial Communication

The non-verbal cues communicated through the physical setting, such as home arrangement, as well as personal presentation, dress, and the state of clothes.

Paralinguistics

Auditory non-verbal cues concerning how words are spoken, encompassing tone, pitch, volume, speed, emphasis, intonation, articulation, and intensity.

Proxemics

Communication expressed through spatial distance, referring specifically to the physical distance people require in order to feel comfortable.

Kinesics (Body Language)

Visual non-verbal communication transmitted through the face, eyes, hands, arms, feet, and legs.

Open Questions

Questions that allow the respondent to determine their own answer rather than responding to professional preconceptions, facilitating anti-oppressive relationships and holistic understanding.

Closed Questions

Questions designed to elicit a brief factual response or a 'yes'/'no' answer for a narrowly defined purpose, useful after broader issues have already been mapped out.

Presenting Problem

An issue that is usually easier for a service user to admit to experiencing initially (e.g., practical difficulties with benefits) compared to deeper, more vulnerable concerns.

Paraphrasing

A communication technique in which the practitioner articulates the service user's account using the service user's own words to demonstrate accurate understanding and empathy.

'The Maze'

A communication challenge in the middle phase of an interview or intervention where conversation loses direction due to a service user's anxiety manifesting as wide-ranging, seemingly unconnected concerns.

'The Desert'

A communication challenge in the middle phase characterized by difficulty getting the service user to engage in conversation, requiring the worker to directly acknowledge emotional barriers or painful issues.