Training of Roma Health Mediators in Reproductive Health

‣ What is the purpose of talking with women in your communities about reproductive health?
To enable the women to:
• Make decisions and adopt behaviors that will improve their reproductive health, based on a
consideration of their situations and their alternatives
• Assume responsibility for their problems and decisions.
Add that our communication with women must therefore 1) help them to understand their situations,
and 2) provide them with information they can use to decide to change certain behaviors.
Refer the group to an example: family planning. Ask the following questions, one at a time:
‣ What is the purpose of talking with women about family planning? What do you hope to
accomplish?
‣ What should women consider, and what do they need to know, in order to make decisions
about practicing family planning?
‣ What is your role in talking with women about family planning?
Purpose: To enable women to make voluntary decisions about whether or not to practice family
planning and how, based on their knowledge of information relevant to their decision.
In order to make decisions about practicing family planning, it is helpful for women to know:
• The risks of not practicing family planning (using effective family planning methods)
o Risks of getting pregnant (and the woman’s feelings about whether or not she wants to
have a child)
o Risks of abortion (if the woman gets pregnant and decides not to keep the
pregnancy/have the child)
o Risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth versus the risks associated with
contraceptive use
• The family planning methods available (at the nearest source of family planning services)
• The (major) advantages and disadvantages of the available methods
• Possible side effects of the available methods
• Generally how to use available methods that are of interest them
The role of the mediator in talking with women about family planning:
• Ask questions about the woman’s/women’s reproductive health intentions, values, beliefs
etc
• Provide information relevant to the woman’s/women’s situation, interests, values, and
beliefs.
Note: Indicate to participants that we will discuss later in this session types of information to
discuss with women depending upon their degree of interest in family planning (as an example of
one component of reproductive health). (See IV. Process of Behavior Change)
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RFHI/JSI Romania Training of RHMs in Reproductive Health Session 13: BCC