How do you use communication cycle?

Answer 1

Warning! There is reference to the passing of a Husband in this post, If you are affected by this I appologise now; all examples are made up and not aimed at anyone in particular.

The Communication Cycle is a very useful thing to use when trying to communicate sensitive subjects. If we are trying to communicate, for example, someone dying, we can use the Communication Cycle to make sure that we don't say anything insensitive or even hurtful to the person who is meant to be receiving the information. We can use the communication cycle to encode the information correctly and therefore, saying something like "I'm afraid that your husband passed away last night in his sleep, we did everything we could to save him, we're sorry," rather than something like "Your husband died last night,". The first of which is a correct way of putting it, and the second way is a much more insensitive way of saying it. It is also important to make sure that we communicate the information at the correct time to prevent a misunderstanding of the message. The place and method of communication is also important in communicating a sensitive subject effectively and sensitively. If you are there to tell someone that their husband has passed away, you cannot phone the widow at work and tell them over the phone that their husband has died. The sensitive way of dealing with this situation would be phoning them and asking them to come to see you now if possible as you have some important news to tell them. When they get there you must make sure that you don't tell them the message in the incorrect way. You must think of the communication cycle when dealing with these types of sensitive situations to prevent hurting someone or making the person more distressed.

Information on what the communication is, please look at the 'What is the Communication Cycle?' question