Evaluation of Communication Skills

I was involved in two situations: a one to one conversation with Mrs Jones and a community centre staff meeting to plan a coffee morning.   During both of these situations it as important to select and use appropriate communication skills which I will be evaluating.
Mrs Jones is in her 90’s, suffers from arthritis and has a hearing aid in one ear, which runs out of battery occasionally. When this happens she puts it away in her handbag and struggles to hear out of one ear. I had a conversation with Mrs Jones, discussing the effectiveness of the medicine her doctor has prescribed for her arthritis, the help she receives at the care home when she falls, her thoughts and feelings on both the coffee mornings and craft afternoons and her daughter and grandchildren.
When conversing with Mrs Jones I used eye contact, positive body language and facial expressions to convey friendliness and make myself seem approachable and easy to talk to. I did this by smiling, maintaining eye contact with Mrs Jones while talking and having “open” body language. This is important because it ensures the service user feels they are able to talk to you openly and these were effective as they helped Mrs Jones to feel relaxed and showed her I was giving her my full attention.
I ensured I used other communication skills such as speaking clearly, avoiding use of slang/jargon and encouraging Mrs Jones to talk by nodding and making sounds, this ensured that she felt comfortable and did not feel pressured or nervous. It was effective because it showed I was comfortable talking to Mrs Jones and I was interested in what she had to say. It was important to speak clearly because Mrs Jones has problems with her hearing so speaking in a loud, clear voice ensured we could communicate effectively and understand each other. For similar reasons I did not use slang, because it conveys unprofessionalism and would likely confuse Mrs Jones as she is elderly and therefore not likely to be familiar with...