Abortion values clarification

Values clarification is an essential part of training for health-care providers and health educators. This is especially true for health professionals who deal with controversial or emotionally charged topics such as abortion, other sexual/reproductive health issues, HIV/AIDS, and end-of-life care. In spite of our efforts at objectivity, we all hold personal values that can influence how we respond to patients, clients, and other individuals with whom we interact. Sometimes, these values are very clear to us and are easily articulated. Others exist at a deeper level, so that we don't necessarily have on our behavior and judgments. Values clarification exercises encourage participants to examine their own values in order to work more effectively with patients, clients, and educational program participants.

This workshop is intended for a wide variety of professionals who work in the reproductive health arena. The goal of this workshop is to help participants clarify their own values related to abortion. Participants will receive a guide containing values clarification activities that they can complete on their own and share with colleagues. Participants who are interested in facilitating values clarification workshops for others are encouraged to attend to the “Abortion values clarification part two: training of trainers” workshop.