Question

A health care professional attempted to explain infant care techniques to Iranian parents. Since the mother was not feeling well, the health care professional began explaining everything to the husband. He refused to listen, stating that in his country, men did not get involved in childcare.

What therapeutic communication techniques would be appropriate in this situation?

Answer 1

Infant care techniques is something vital which not only ensures productive and good development of an infant but also help him or her grow in a safer and protective environment by encouraging some positive relationships among the infant and parents and for this, both the parents or care givers have a significant role to play. In this situation, where the father is not ready to listen to the therapists by emphasizing about his cultural or societal norms and ethics, does not defines his negligence for child care but his conformity towards his group and cultural ethics.

Some therapeutic techniques that can help him understand more about the concept , about the significance of role played by parents in a child's development are described below:-

In this situation, the man can be given examples of a similar situation by adopting the approach given by Albert Bandura, i.e social learning theory that other people with modernization have changed these beliefs and have altered their behavioral roles in a society. By showing him such movies and commercials, he can develop his thoughts and perspective to a wider level.

Other can be use of classical conditioning, by providing and setting a relationship of a neutral stimulus and a an unconditioned stimulus that later becomes a conditioned stimulus and this response favoring his outcome to actually practice this behavior on daily basis. For example, the man can be initially made to practice a small amount of behavior that as a result brings positive effects in child care and soon he will practice it even unintentionally.