Training of Roma Health Mediators in Reproductive Health

‣ Did you want to put conditions on sharing some of this information? If so, what
kinds of conditions?
That the person I shared the information with:
• Would not ridicule me
• Would not laugh at me
• Would take me seriously
• Would not share my problem with others
• Is competent and interested in helping me
‣ What is the relationship between this exercise and your roles in discussing
reproductive health with women in your communities?
‣ How are you perceived by women in your communities: as a stranger, acquaintance,
friend, or intimate friend (the first time you initiate a discussion of reproductive
health with them)?
‣ What is the effect of the rapport you have with women in your community on your
ability to help them resolve reproductive health problems?
Like us, all women reflect about these same conditions:
• We tend to put conditions on the disclosure of certain information (for example:
Why is the person asking? How are they going to use the information?)
• It may be difficult for us to determine particular conditions in which we feel
comfortable to share certain aspects of our lives with others.
• We may share intimate information with a stranger if we know we will never see the
person again. It may be difficult, however, to share such information with a
stranger, acquaintance or friend who we might see again or with someone who is in
contact with other members of the community.
Initially, as mediators we may be seen as strangers, acquaintances or casual friends by some
women in our communities.
Depending upon women’s level of comfort with a question, and with us, they may respond
with the truth, or with what they perceive as the “appropriate” response, or something else.
Our ability to create a positive rapport and a feeling of trust with women in our communities
is essential to effective communication with them, and to our ability to help them.
‣ If we need to ask questions that may be threatening, or questions that may create fear
and/or anxiety in women, what can we do to put them at ease/to gain their trust?
• Create an atmosphere in which language, beliefs, anxieties and behavior are not
judged/ridiculed.
• Explain the reasons why we ask certain questions.
• Always consider the rapport/trust we need to establish in order to ask certain
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RFHI/JSI Romania Training of RHMs in Reproductive Health Session 14: Interpersonal Communication