Instead of spending the time talking about cows and calves, as a professional in home care, you can have a valuable conversation with older clients. Even though you do not have much time. A good conversation helps to counter loneliness and stimulates the client to think about different topics. A1 Senior Care Salem has some tips for you to make good conversation with elderly people.
The home care does not always have a lot of time, but can still ask: I do not have a very long time to talk to you, but I would like to know what is the most fun you have experienced today, this week or this weekend. ? ‘You ask an open question and challenge the client to think’, says Van der Vossen. ‘What if someone asks you five questions during a conversation that you need to think about? Then you will feel that the conversation matters. “
Senior care Salem OR – Tips for a good conversation:
1. Ask open questions
These are questions that start with how, what, where, why, who or what. It can also be questions such as: “Can you tell us more about that?” Open questions are important because they are inviting and activate thinking for others.
2. Ask simple questions
Precise simplicity is important for a good conversation. Listen carefully to the other person and try to ask short, direct and simple questions. Leave it to that simple question, set it around without explanation and wait until the other person begins to answer.
3. Ask for clarification
If you do not want misunderstandings to arise and if you want to understand the other person, ask questions for clarification. Ask if your client understands what you are saying, or ask what your client exactly means, what he or she understands under a certain term or what exactly is his or her point.
Elderly psychiatrist Martin Kat has been advocating for decades the elderly who suffer from psychological problems. When working with these elderly people, it is important to distinguish between depression, apathy, mood decline and emotional lability.
4. Ask for a thought, experience or feeling
Specifically asking for someone’s feelings and thoughts brings you closer to what that person is about. Ask about which emotions your client felt about a certain event. Was he angry, ashamed, was he anxious or happy?
5. Ask for a judgment
When you ask what your client thinks of something and ask why he or she thinks so, it often gives more depth to the conversation. You find out what important values ??or principles are for your client.
6. Ask hypothetical questions
It can be very nice or enlightening to ask hypothetical questions or to do a thought experiment (‘Imagine that we … how would you …?). This brings people into a different situation and beyond their fixed frameworks. Clearly state when you are talking about the actual situation again.
