course home help module 6
Preventing STIs/RHIs

 

Self-Comfort Inventory for Service Providers

Introduction: Providing sexual and reproductive health services involves dealing with sexuality issues and with sensitive situations that may evoke many different feelings for service providers and clients alike. To increase our effectiveness in doing this work, it may help to anticipate those situations, explore our possible reactions to them, and plan how to manage our feelings where appropriate.

Self-Comfort Inventory

Below are a series of situations that can occur in sexual and reproductive health service delivery. Read each situation, and write the number in the blank to the right that most closely indicates your feelings at the thought of being involved in the situation, according to the scale below.

There are no “right” or “wrong” ways to feel about these issues. It is important for you, as a service provider, to evaluate your possible reactions to sensitive situations. The rating on this scale will help you identify those areas that are particularly sensitive for you.

Very Uncomfortable
1

2		 Neutral

3

4		 Very
Comfortable
5
  1. Distributing condoms to clients and demonstrating their proper use. _____
  2. Being asked by a client if you use condoms. _____
  3. Using drawings or diagrams of reproductive body parts when talking to a client.
  4. Discussing sexuality with a client whose opinions about what is right and wrong differ from yours. _____
  5. Pronouncing slang words for such terms as penis, vagina, sexual intercourse, etc. _____
  6. Specifically discussing sexual behaviors that put people at risk for STI infection (including HIV). _____
  7. Discussing different contraceptive methods in terms of their impact on sexual enjoyment. _____
  8. Discussing sexual intercourse, including oral and anal sex. _____
  9. Discussing sexual behavior with a client who is homosexual. _____
  10. Discussing safer sex behaviors, including alternatives to sexual intercourse. _____
  11. Describing detailed symptoms of RTIs and STIs.

Adapted from Training Manual: AIDS/STD Education and Counselling in Africa. AIDSTECH/Family Health International, 1992.

 

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