Case Study #2 - Communication Barriers, John Jones, age 63

Instructions for Case Study #2: You will have the opportunity to complete three case studies in this course. For each case study type your case study responses utilizing complete sentences to convey your thoughts thoroughly; please number each response so that it matches the corresponding question being asked.

Below is the first case study:

Case Study #2 – Communication Barriers

John Jones, age 63, is 5’11” tall and weighs 250 lbs. A retiree, he has been recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Mr. Jones is on a limited income and not able to attend diabetes education classes at the hospital. Mr. Jones was referred to the Texas AgriLife Do Wee, Be Well community program for free diabetes education. Joan Stivers, the Nutritionist, entered the education room to introduce herself, and told him the purpose of their initial appointment was to discuss his current food intake and establish goals for food selection. During the conversation, Mr. Jones began looking at his phone. He was getting an update on a baseball game. He explained to Ms. Stivers this game was very important and he commented on a few players. Finally, Mr. Jones crossed his arms and said, “You will need to talk with my wife, not me. She does the cooking. I also can’t do any group diabetes classes because I’m on a fixed income.”

Answer the following questions thoroughly:

1) What should the environment be like when Ms. Stivers begins the interview with Mr. Jones?

2) What are the barriers to communication?

3) How should the nutritionist respond to Mr. Jones regarding his comments? What should be the next steps?

4) What did Mr. Jones’ verbal statements tell you about his attitudes towards his health problem?

5) What did you notice about Mr. Jones’ nonverbal behaviors?

Your case study responses should be your individual work to demonstrate and reinforce the knowledge and skills gained in nutrition education and counseling.