Building Competency in Diabetes Education THE ESSENTIALS

SELF-MANAGEMENT EDUCATION & SUPPORT: PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT| 11-53

constitute forms of nonverbal communication. Our paralanguage, consisting of the tone, rate and volume of our speech, can have a dramatic effect on how the message is received. When communicating by email, the words we choose and the punctuation we use help to define our message. In telephone conversations, 18% of the message is communicated through words and the remaining 82% through paralanguage (24). Whatever mode of communication we use, strategies for effective communication should help form positive relationships with and between the participants. They should allow for exploration of personal perspectives and actively involve problem solving skills. The strategy of Engage-Experience-Encourage-Evaluate encompasses these concepts.

Keys to Effective Communication (23) Establishing rapport through:  Active listening  Appropriate eye contact  Asking for feedback  Posing questions  Using clear language

Tips for delivering lectures 1. Get learners engaged early. Organize your opening. ● “ Tell them what you are going to tell them” in order to familiarize learners with the program and help them to understand expectations. ● Get learners involved by using one or more of the following suggestions: o Have participants introduce themselves and share their goal(s) for the session, with either the whole audience or a least with neighbouring people. Write down learners’ learning goals or have the audience write goals themselves. o Ask learners to think about their attitude, past experiences, etc., in relation to the topic. o Use brainstorming, if possible, to generate a list of common issues. This increases group awareness of issues, especially attitudes/beliefs about the subject, and normalizes them.