COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT THROUGH EMPATHIC COMMUNICATION TRAINING FOR HEALTH WORKER VOLUNTEERS OF YAYASAN KANKER INDONESIA (YKI) WITH CANCER PATIENTS IN BANDUNG Ani Yuningsih (a*), Maman Suherman (a), Yuniarti (b), Anita Asmara (a), Izni Nur Indrawati M (a)
a) Faculty of Communication Science, Universitas Islam Bandung, Jl Tamansari No 24-26 Bandung, Indonesia
*yuningsihani[at]yahoo.com
b) Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Islam Bandung, Jl Tamansari No 20 Bandung, Indonesia
Abstract
Yayasan Kanker Indonesia (YKI) Bandung City Branch was established in 1995 and are managed by administrators who care about efforts to expand and prevent cancer in Indonesia. One of YKI^s functions through its volunteer health workers is to provide assistance to cancer patients and educate the public to adopt healthy living behaviors in preventing cancer.
The current problems and conditions of YKI Bandung City include the lack of empathetic communication skills to motivate and assist patients. Currently, the YKI board is empowering volunteer health workers in collaboration with various related parties such as government and universities. Empathic communication skills require special training, because generally health workers during their studies do not receive material on communication and practice of implementing human relations as a basis for empathic communication skills. The management of YKI Bandung City has conducted a self-evaluation, and mapped the various deficiencies in the competence of the volunteer health workers.
The Unisba Community Service Team conducted community empowerment through empathy communication training for Volunteer Health Workers at YKI Cancer Patient Companion Bandung City. The training was conducted in the form of interactive discussions and face-to-face simulations. The material provided is about Effective Communication Techniques and Interpersonal Skills, Techniques for Developing Empathy Skills, Recognizing Types of Personalities and Psychic Conditions of Patients, and Understanding Motivation Theory and Motivational Techniques. After the training, the level of knowledge and skills of the participants increased by 69%.
Keywords: Empathic Communication, Health Worker Volunteers, Motivation, Human Relations
