Title: Counseling adolescents in reproductive health care settings.

POPLINE Document Number: 049088

Author(s):

Spain J

Source citation:

[Unpublished] 1980 Jun. iii, 78 p. (Office for Family Planning Contract No. 240-79-0015)

Abstract:

Counseling adolescents in reproductive health care is difficult and requires specialized knowledge and skills. The adolescent client is often in conflict, perhaps in crisis, and needs to make immediate decisions. This handbook was prepared to impart competency in basic counseling techniques and to explain the facts of adolescent psychosexual development. Topics covered by the handbook's chapters are: adolescent development and reproductive health; generic counseling skills (communication and interviewing skills, counselor-client relationship, and structuring the counseling session); counseling the contraceptive client (assessing counseling needs and counseling model); and counseling the pregnant teenager. Counseling is conceptualized as a process that joins learned skills and knowledge with personal qualities and style. Counseling is intended to help people make decisions about issues that emerge in the course of normal development and thus does not emphasize pathology. When adolescents participate in reproductive health care programs, they are making decisions about sexuality, relationships with peers and families, pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing. These can be overwhelming issues for adolescents because they lack experience with decision making in general and have difficulties identifying their feelings. Counseling responds to feelings, values, and attitudes, thus enabling a decision making process to occur. Although this handbook was prepared for counselors in health care settings, it can be useful to anyone who works with adolescents, including teachers.

Keywords:

Counselors
Adolescents
Counseling
Clinic Activities
Program Activities
Personality Development
Child Development
Adolescent Pregnancy
Pregnancy
Reproduction
Psychological Factors
Decision Making
Behavior
Premarital Sex Behavior
Sex Behavior
Programs
Organization and Administration
Youth
Age Factors
Population Characteristics
Demographic Factors
Population
Personality
Biology
Reproductive Behavior
Fertility
Population Dynamics