HANDOUTS UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE HIV and AIDS Voluntary Counselling and Testing MODULE 1 Self-Awareness National AIDS Control Programme February 2008
MODULE 1 - HANDOUT Distribute to the participants after all sessions of module one have been covered Module 1-1 Introduction (Do not need handout) i
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HANDOUT - MODULE 1 M1-2 M1-2 Session 2 Getting to Know Each Other Self-awareness is the understanding that one exists as an individual person separate from other people. The better you understand yourself, the better you are able to accept or change who you are. As you try to understand yourself do not exaggerate your weakness and look down upon yourself. You should not justify or excuse your weaknesses. Make a realistic view of both your strengths and weaknesses in order to know your true self. The feedback you get from other people may influence how you see yourself. Do not let other people look down upon you. The following questions may help you to assess yourself 1. What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? 2. How do other people describe me? Do I agree with their description? Why or Why not? 3. What are two situations when I was most at ease? What specific elements were present when I felt that way? 4. What type of activities did I enjoy doing as a child and now? 5. What motivates me? Why? 6. What are my dreams for the future? What steps am I taking to achieve my dreams? 7. What do I fear most in life? Why? 8. What qualities do I like to see in people? Why? Do I have many friends as I have described? Why or Why not? 9. What stresses me? What is my typical response to stress? 10. When I disagree with someone s viewpoint, what do I do? Self-awareness builds in a person a healthy self-esteem. Self-esteem Self-esteem is the experience of being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and being worthy of happiness. Self-esteem includes the following primary properties: 1
HANDOUT - MODULE 1 M1-2 M1-2 self-esteem as a basic human need, i.e., "it makes an essential contribution to the life process and is indispensable to normal and healthy selfdevelopment, and has a value for survival." self-esteem as an automatic and inevitable consequence of the sum of individuals' choices in using their consciousness Something experienced as a part of, or background to, all of the individual s thoughts, feelings and actions. For people with health or good self-esteem, the daily ups and downs may lead to a very temporary fluctuations on how they feel about themselves as opposed to people with bad self esteem for whom the ups and downs may make all the difference in life. Healthy or good self-esteem is based on a person s ability to asses himself/herself accurately and still be able to accept and to value himself/ herself unconditionally. That is the ability to acknowledge his/her strengths and limitations and at the same time accepting his/her worthy without conditions or reservations People with low or poor self-esteem rely on how they are performing at present to determine how they feel about themselves. They will need positive external experiences to counteract the negative feelings and thought that they normally have Self-esteem is developed and changes throughout our lives as we build an image of ourselves through the experiences with different people and activities. Experiences from childhood play a large role in shaping a self-esteem of an individual. See the table below Childhood experiences that lead to healthy self-esteem being praised being listened to beeing spoken to respectfully getting attention and hugs experiencing success in sports school having trustworthy friends Childhood experiences that lead to low self-esteem beeing harshly critisized being yelled at, or beaten being ignored, ridiculed or teased being expected to be perfect all the time experiencing failure in sports or school 2
HANDOUT - MODULE 1 M1-2 M1-3 Session 3 Values Values are a measure of your inner worth. Values guide the beliefs and opinions that you stand for. Because values guide all that you stand for and what you do not want, you cannot assign them any monetary value. Your values determine who you are what you decide and how you behave. Proper application of your values result in respect, love good health and good habits Values are developed during growth. Therefore the family and environment contribute a lot in the development of your values. If you value your healthy, you will eat a balanced diet and you will not go into risk behaviours. Decisions that are guided by your values give you peace of mind. Your conscious does not haunt you. The family, religion and culture contribute to the development of your values. Therefore values will differ for people who come from different families, societies and even countries Proper use of your values result in understanding, love, respect, cooperation, development, comfort, unwavering decisions. Respect values of others because we all have different values. 3
HANDOUT - MODULE 1 M1-2 M1-4 Session 4 Self- Concept Self-concept or self-identity is mental and conceptual understanding and persistent regard that beings hold for their own existence Components of the self-concept include physical, psychological and social attributes, which can be influenced by the individual s attitudes, habits, beliefs and ideas. Many of the successes and failures that people experience in many areas of life are closely related to the ways that they have learned to view themselves and their relationships with others. It is also clear that self-concept has at least three major qualities: It is learned, It is organized, and It is dynamic. Self-concept is learned As far as we know, no one is born with a self-concept. It gradually emerges in the early months of life and is shaped and reshaped through repeated perceived experiences, particularly with significant others. The fact that self-concept is learned has some important implications: Because self-concept does not appear to be instinctive, but is a social product developed through experience, it possesses relatively boundless potential for development and actualization. Because of previous experiences and present perceptions, individuals may perceive themselves in ways different from the ways others see them. Individuals perceive different aspects of themselves at different times with varying degrees of clarity. Therefore, inner focusing is a valuable tool for counseling. Any experience which is inconsistent with one's self-concept may be perceived as a threat, and the more of these experiences there are, the more rigidly self-concept is organized to maintain and protect itself. When a person is unable to get rid of perceived inconsistencies, emotional problems arise. Faulty thinking patterns, such as dichotomous reasoning (dividing everything in terms of opposites or extremes) or over-generalizing (making sweeping conclusions based on little information) create negative interpretations of oneself. 4
HANDOUT - MODULE 1 M1-2 M1-4 Self-concept is organized Self-concept has a generally stable quality that is characterized by orderliness and harmony. Each person maintains countless perceptions regarding one s personal existence, and each perception is synchronized with all the others. It is this generally stable and organized quality of self-concept that gives consistency to the personality. This organized quality of self-concept leads to the following facts. Self-concept requires consistency, stability, and tends to resist change. If self-concept changed readily, the individual would lack a consistent and dependable personality. The more central a particular belief is to one's self-concept, the more resistant one is to changing that belief. Self-concept allows the person to reflect on past events, analyze present perceptions, and shape future experiences. Perceived success and failure affect self-concept. Failure in a highly regarded area lowers evaluations in all other areas as well. Success in a prized area raises evaluations in other seemingly unrelated areas. Self-concept is dynamic. Self-concept is a continuously active system that dependably points to the correct direction of a person s perceived existence. This guidance system not only shapes the ways a person views oneself, others, and the world, but it also serves to direct action and enables each person to take a consistent stance in life. Rather than viewing self-concept as the cause of behaviour, it is better understood as the guide of human personality providing consistency in personality and direction for behaviour. The dynamic quality of self-concept is shown by the facts that: The world and the things in it are not just perceived; they are perceived in relation to one's self-concept. Self-concept development is a continuous process. In the healthy personality there is constant assimilation of new ideas and expulsion of old ideas throughout life. Individuals strive to behave in ways that are in keeping with their selfconcepts, no matter how helpful or hurtful to one or others. Self-concept usually takes precedence over the physical body. Individuals will often sacrifice physical comfort and safety for emotional satisfaction. Self-concept continuously guards itself against loss of self-esteem, for it is 5
HANDOUT - MODULE 1 M1-2 M1-4 this loss that produces feelings of anxiety. If self-concept must constantly defend itself from assault, growth opportunities are limited. 6
HANDOUT - MODULE 1 M1-2 M1-5 Session 5 Language of HIV The main mode of HIV transmission (about 80%) in Tanzania is through heterosexual interactions. Incidentally, this means that talking about HIV transmission is closely related to talking of sex and sexuality. Open discussion of issues of sex and sexuality in most communities in Tanzania is taboo. This situation complicates the nee for open communication on HIV transmission and prevention. As a Counsellor, you will need to talk to clients about issues of sex and sexuality in order to enable them to determine their risk situations correctly. You need to develop a language that sends the correct meaning but reduces embarrassments as much as possible during communication with clients. As such use of terminologies that are accepted by the community as substitutes of direct terms that address sex and sexuality. HIV transmission, largely through sexual relationships, is also connected to acts of marital infidelity. Hence the community, in most cases, sees people who live with HIV (PLHIV) as wrong doers or sinner. This leads to stigmatising and name assignment to PLHIV. This situation starts from the community and is orchestrated by the media. Related to this is the act of stigmatising certain activities and occupations by relating it to being responsible for HIV transmission. Such activities and occupations include commercial sex, barmaids and other similar ones. As a Counsellor you have a role to identify such terminologies/phrases/slang and show your clients how use of such words is degrading to fellow human beings. 7