This assessment is to help you assess your skills and knowledge in counselling for maternal and newborn health now that you have completed this Handbook. If you are working in groups you should carry out the assessment on an individual basis but present your assessment to the rest of the group for discussion and feedback from both the group members and the facilitator. If you are working on your own, consider presenting your assessment work to your colleagues or mentor, for some feedback on how you have done.
1 hour
The first part of the assessment is for you to reflect on the work you have done in the Handbook.
Take some time to review your notebook and the Handbook to remind yourself of all the material that has been covered. Then note down the following:
The most important things you have learned
The skills that you have developed
The areas that you would like to practise or improve.
Refer back to your motivation for working through the Handbook that you wrote down in
Session 1. How far did you manage to fulfil your own personal objectives?
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This part of the assessment is for you to review case studies of women you have counselled for maternal and newborn health and reflect on your counselling skills.
Write up three case studies of women you have counselled. You can either use three new case studies, or use case studies from your notebook from previous sessions or a combination.
Your write up should include the following:
Brief description of the person/people you were counselling
Outline of the problem, issue or topic that was discussed
How you approached the counselling session
A review of the interaction (you might consider audio or video taping a session if you have access to the equipment and if the woman consents)
What you felt went well, and what you felt could have been improved upon or done differently
The outcome in terms of the decisions made and any action that was taken
Any follow-up or further information
If possible try to get some feedback from the women or people you counselled on how they felt the session went and what they think was good and what could have been done differently or was missing.
Look to see if there are any common themes in your case studies in terms of what went well, and what could have been improved upon. How might you address the areas which need further work or skills building?
After you have presented your case studies, ask your group or colleagues for their comments, ideas or advice on what you have done.
