Summary

In this Study Session, you have learned that:

• Counselling is face-to-face, personal communication in which one person helps another to make decisions and then to act on them. In the context of family planning services, counselling is a process, which helps a client to decide whether to use contraception to delay, space, or end childbearing; which method to use; whether to continue using contraception when side effects occur; whether to switch methods when the current approach is unsatisfactory; and whether to involve one's partner(s) in FP.
• Good family planning counselling is said to occur when mutual trust is established between client and provider. The health worker shows respect for the client and identifies and addresses her/his concerns, doubts, and fears regarding the use of contraceptive methods. On the other hand, the client and service provider give and receive relevant, accurate, and complete information that enables the client to make a decision about family planning.
• Informed choice means that individuals freely choose whether to use a contraceptive method and which one, based on their awareness and understanding of accurate information about the plans. To make a choice that is truly informed, the client needs to know the range of all methods available, advantages/disadvantages of each method, information on risks of not using any method, risks associated with contraceptive use and how to use the method chosen safely and effectively.
• Good counselling requires excellent communication skills. Counsellors need the ability to establish rapport, elicit information, and provide information effectively to support clients' informed and voluntary decision making.
• To adequately assess clients' needs, providers must couple open-ended questions that encourage clients to talk about themselves with active listening skills and effective paraphrasing to ensure comprehension. Health workers must be able to communicate their knowledge about RH/FP issues effectively. They must have the ability to explain things in language and terms that the client understands (with or without the help of visual aids), and they must be comfortable talking about issues related to sexual health
• REDI are a useful memory aid to help us to remember the essential steps in the counselling process and to add structure to complex activity. The REDI framework emphasises the client's right and responsibility for making decisions and carrying them out, provides guidelines to help the counsellor and the client consider the client's circumstances and social context, identifies the challenges a client may face in carrying out their decision, helps client's build skills to address those challenges.
• The REDI framework moves away from traditional FP counselling that relies on routinely giving detailed information about every FP method.
• Technical knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours of the provider can influence the effectiveness of the counselling process on one hand and client's level of knowledge, understanding and their personal situation may affect their choice on the other side.