Color Profiles in Communication

Color Profile and Communication

• Personality types and behavioral styles influence effective communication and patient outcomes
• Effective communication strategies can be identified for different personality types and behavioral styles
• Good therapeutic communication is associated with positive clinical outcomes, higher patient satisfaction and compliance, and lower levels of patient frustration/anger
• Gaining confidence in novice clinicians is directly related to developing communication skills

True Colors Assessment

• Don Lowry developed the True Colors Assessment
• It uses four primary colors to identify personality types and behavioral styles to facilitate deeper understanding and better communication
• The colors used are Green, Blue, Gold, and Orange

Green – "The Logical One"

• Those with a green personality are logically driven and independent thinkers
• Use specific, fact-based questions and avoid overly emotional language when communicating with them
• Encourage analytical responses by asking them to describe details
• Positive characteristics include being logical, analytical, curious, complex, insightful, conceptual, and emotionally self-controlled
• Green personalities need independence and private time, intellectual competence, and freedom to ask "why"
• Negative aspects include being uncompromising, perfectionistic, pressuring, verbose, and aloof
• They are caught up in too many ideas, showing low tolerance for feelings, attitudes, and advice of others, and are highly critical of self and others

Blue – "The Caring One"

• Those with a blue personality are emotionally driven and seek harmony in groups
• Use open-ended questions that invite them to share their emotions and the impact on their daily life when communicating with them
• Be empathetic and give them space to express their feelings
• Positive characteristics include persuasiveness, empathy, being team builders/players, sincerity, inspiration, creativity, and optimism
• Blu personalities are perceptive, needing affection, acceptance, understanding, freedom of expression, unconditional support, and personal approval
• Negative characteristics include over-compliance, being reactive, not being firm with others, and being slow to take action
• They also have weak goal-setting skills, are undisciplined with time, may be disorganized, are sometimes too emotional, and can be overly helpful

Gold – "The Organizer"

• Gold personality types are loyalty driven, respect rules and authority
• Structure questions logically and explain the purpose of each step when communicating with them
• They'll respond best to organized, detail-oriented questions
• Positive characteristics include being organized, practical, responsible, trustworthy, loyal, and efficient
• Gold personalities are dependable, prepared, calculated, and have attention to detail
• They need security, accuracy, clear rules and procedures, to belong and be productive
• Negative characteristics include conformity, guardedness, righteousness, rigidity, and resistance to change
• They are narrowly focused or boring, possessive, sometimes pessimistic or negative, and have too much "Do-Good-Ness"

Orange – "Action-Oriented"

• Orange personality types are short-term driven and welcome change and variety
• Keep the conversation engaging with questions that relate to their functional goals when communicating with them
• Focus on what they want to achieve and keep it practical
• Positive characteristics include being action-oriented, energetic, competent, and self-confident
• They are spontaneous, efficient, have a sense of humor, are flexible, and are good negotiators
• Orange personalities need freedom to act quickly, results and immediate feedback, independence, hands-on work, and challenges
• Negative characteristics include being domineering and confrontational, using emphatic statements, and being pushy and impulsive
• They jump from one activity to another, are tough or harsh, have a loud tone of voice, and poor listening skills
• They also have a lack of follow-through, are careless about details, and show a lack of respect for rules or procedure

Summary

• True Colors: logical greens, caring blues, organizers that are gold, and action-oriented oranges
• Understanding personal and patient strengths and preferences improves communication, therapeutic alliance, and patient outcomes

RISE: Health Literacy and Communication

• Health literacy is the ability of patients to obtain, process, and understand basic health information to make informed health decisions, involving personal and organizational aspects.
• In physical therapy, health literacy can impact: patient adherence to exercise regimens, understanding of movement restrictions, and the ability to manage pain effectively.
• Low health literacy can lead to: misunderstandings about physical therapy plans, incorrect exercise performance, and slower recovery times.
• Healthcare organizations are responsible for Organizational Health Literacy when they provide accessible and comprehensible information for all.
• Role in Health Equity: Organizations must ensure all patients, regardless of background, can access and understand health information, emphasizing its role as a social determinant of health (SDoH).
• Functional health literacy is the ability to follow basic instructions
• Interactive health literacy occurs when asking questions about pain levels or discomfort during therapy. Critical health literacy comes into play when differentiating between credible and non-credible sources of health information, which may lead them to abandon their PT plan for unproven alternatives.
• Healthy People 2030 Objectives include: increase the proportion of adults whose healthcare provider checked their understanding, decrease the proportion of adults who report poor communication with their healthcare provider, increase the proportion of adults who say their online medical record is easy to understand, increase the proportion of adults with limited English proficiency who say their providers explain things clearly.

Strategies for communicating with patients who have reduced health literacy skills:

• Speak calmly and use simple language and short sentences.
• Keep your introduction short and give explanations in a simple and concise manner, without a lot of detail.
• Be structured in your conversation and assume a lack of prior knowledge.
• Use experiences and feelings in your explanation.
• Do not use graphs or illustrations and limit the use of images.
• Give first the most important information first and add information on subsequent visits.
• Limit the use of comparisons and follow clear steps when making decisions about treatment.
• Diagnose and explain what patient can do as well as why it is important, ensure patient understands, ask about patient preferences and come to collective decision
• Teach back by asking patient to summarize what was discussed in their own words

Tailoring Communication

• People respond to communication based on Literacy Level or Personality Type
• The Teach Back method is used with these types of communication models
• Adapting to Literacy Level:
• Low Literacy: Visual aids, simple language, confirm understanding using ‘teach-back’ method
• Moderate Literacy: Provide detail, encourage questions, and validate understanding
• High Literacy: Offer in-depth discussions, provide resources, invite patient to make decisions
• Adapting to Personality Types
• True Colors influence communication
• Blue personalities value empathy and connection where the low literacy is supportive and encouraging
• Gold personalities love structured and organized communication where low literacy is step-by-step
• Green personalities use logic and data, where the communication is straightforward
• Orange personalities like hands-on action, they appreciate knowing the fitness benefit of certain actions and are told through demonstration