By Berry Dianne . Open University Press; , 2006. . ISBN 0 335218709
Health communication, until recently a neglected component of both undergraduate curricula and postgraduate programmes, is now emerging as one of the key areas for individual health professional improvement. Despite improvements in its teaching and application, poor health communication is still a major feature of the majority of complaints and litigation received by the UK National Health Service. In this book, Dianne Berry, Professor of Psychology at the University of Reading has pulled together a helpful, comprehensive summary and provided useful discussion.
The intended audiences are students, researchers and health professionals. The book provides a sound grounding in the theory of this potentially complex area. Good practice points are documented throughout. I cannot help feeling that with some sympathetic formatting these practical messages could have been highlighted so that the reader could easily distinguish areas of practice from the theoretical literature reviews. I agree with the author who targets health professionals who are now taking on extended roles, in particular the recent developments in non‐medical prescribing for nurses, pharmacists and other professional groups. For these health professionals I am sure that the book will be a welcome resource, not only to help them understand their existing skills but to develop these skills further.
The book is well structured and takes the reader through some welcome scene setting. Basic concepts, theories and models of communications are discussed before the chapters become more practical in their content. The author demonstrates a realistic understanding and appreciation of the role of different health professionals, the changing approach to medical education and the impact that multidisciplinary working has on day‐to‐day communication issues for patients and staff.
The chapters covering ‘Particular populations in healthcare’ and ‘Communication of difficult information’ could easily become, if they’re not already, essential reading for health professional undergraduate courses. These chapters would also help inform some of the routine discussions that take place in healthcare settings everyday.
Chapter six is a summary and provides a useful first reference, for a number of key areas. Areas where substantial research is already available, e.g. communicating information about risk and uncertainty, genetic counselling, conveying bad news, communication for dying patients and issues in the treatment and care of cancer patients. The chapter also introduces ethical issues in health communication with a very readable discussion. The penultimate chapter is concerned with health promotion and communicating with the wider public. The background to health promotion is described but I can’t help thinking that this chapter may represent a missed opportunity to discuss, in more detail, the impact that the media and the internet are currently enjoying with respect to health communications.
The final chapter discusses communication skills training, which rather unsurprisingly is a growing industry. The author notes that ‘such skills can be explicitly trained’ and states her hope that the increasing recognition and availability of such training should improve health communication.
The book is a valuable addition to any health professional undergraduate and one that, together with the topic of health communication, was missing from my undergraduate days. For researchers new to this field the book must represent a useful starting point. For professionals in the ‘field’ or at ‘the coal face’ it would provide a useful reference and background for many of the skills that they use and the issues that they face everyday – potentially, as the book discusses, without ever having had too much training. Finally, for the reader with the ability to reflect, reading the book may be part of the, uncomfortable but necessary, journey of improving their communication skills and their patient care.