Sexual health is an important discipline that requires a lot of attention to guarantee the success of the programs. It is characterized by different important activities that are coordinated to help achieve the primary objectives of such program within the public health domain. The critical areas of the sexual health include the use of enchanted communication skills, excellent skills for proper communication, and community engagement.
An enchanted means of communication is one that can be considered as an attractive mode of communication. One of the enchanted communication skills used within sexual health is digital media. It is a captivating method because many young people use digital media a lot than before. Today, the use of the internet and mobile phones is wide thus giving digital media a great potential to reach many people. The young people are using the internet to look up sexual health information whenever they have particular concerns (Scull, Malik & Kupersmidt, 204). Besides, the internet supports the research because of the numerous websites giving sexual health information and advice.
There is a significant evolution being experienced in the way digital media interventions are used. A few years ago, computer-based education programs could be found in specific areas only. For instance, such applications could be found in schools and hospitals only. However, this is different today because of the wider internet access (Bailey et al., 2015). Furthermore, the content delivery has changed a lot over the years thus making digital media use a more enchanted mode of communication. Earlier, only text-based materials could be transmitted as opposed to today’s content. Nowadays graphics and videos can be used in the sexual health education thus making it enjoyable to the young people.
Furthermore, the digital media supports interactions between users over the internet thus making it possible for learners to access information based on their requirements. Besides, it has interactive games that require feedback, video stories, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and other methods that simulate real life situations thus engaging the young people even more (Gabarron & Wynn, 2016). Besides, the various online platforms have several features such as privacy that will ensure people seek more information without fear of being prejudiced.
Sexual health is a discipline that requires the engagement of clients. As such, it needs the use of certain methods such as counseling. Counseling is an activity that requires the use of different methods to reach the various groups involved in the sexual health subject. As such, various approaches can be used in sexual health.
One of the approaches is couples counseling that involves improving communication and solving of issues between two people in an intimate relationship. As such, it is necessary that the counselors have the required training that can help them work with the changes of a couple. The therapy session requires the attendance of both partners in a couple. However, in some cases, some partners tend to be reluctant in the beginning (“Couples Counselling”, 2017).
Cognitive and behavioral therapies are the other type of counseling within sexual health. Behavioral therapies are designed according to the way the client thinks. The treatment is inspired by the belief that people can change their thoughts or behaviors to address the various issues they face. There are different types of behavioral therapies. One of them is acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). It utilizes the mindfulness strategies to assist in the increase of mental flexibility (“Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies”, 2017). Although it is not a long-term treatment, it helps in treating anxiety, depression, and other psychological issues.
The second type of behavioral therapy is a behavioral therapy that focuses on the behaviors that are learned or conditioned in an individual and the possible ways of changing the same. The therapy can be used to address issues such as addiction because of the belief that learned behaviors can be unlearnt or modified.
The third type is the cognitive analytic therapy that aims at helping clients in the development of new coping ways. It combines the ideas of both the analytic psychology and cognitive therapy to make one integrative model that makes it possible to develop the new coping ways (“Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies”, 2017).
There is also the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that is an integration of both the cognitive and behavioral therapies. It capitalizes on the physical feelings, emotions, the thoughts, and actions by teaching clients how they affect each other. It is helpful in treating depression and anxiety (“Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies”, 2017).
Cognitive therapy focuses on thoughts and perceptions, and how they can affect the feelings and behavioral of an individual. It also helps clients to learn positive ways of thinking by reassessing negative thoughts. Therefore, it is essential in changing the feelings and behaviors of clients towards certain behaviors.
The actions and thoughts of people are determined by the unconscious thoughts and perceptions that developed throughout their childhood. To understand this concept, psychologists use the Psychoanalytical and Psychodynamic therapies. Psychoanalysis is a branch of psychodynamic therapy that was developed by Sigmund Freud. It focuses on the unconscious thoughts of an individual that are rooted deep from their childhood. The therapy helps clients to learn ways of interpreting deeply buried memories that could be causing distress through free associations, fantasies or dreams (“Psychoanalytical and Psychodynamic Therapies”, 2017).
Psychoanalytic therapy has the same principles of psychoanalysis since it also focuses on the influence of unconscious thoughts on individuals. Despite the similarity in the two therapies, psychoanalytically is not intense like psychoanalysis.
Psychodynamic therapy is a type of treatment that can be considered as an evolution of the psychoanalytic therapy. It seeks to discover how the current behavior of a client is affected by the unconscious thoughts. It is also characterized by the quick identification of the current problem and attempts in the provision of faster solutions (“Psychoanalytical and Psychodynamic Therapies”, 2017).
The focus of humanistic therapies is growth, self-development, and responsibilities. The therapies also aim at helping people in identifying their strengths, choice in challenging situations, and creativity (“Humanistic Therapies”, 2017).
Existential therapy is a type of humanistic therapy that emphasizes on the exploration of the meaning of particular issues by using philosophical perspectives rather than approaches that are technique-based (“Humanistic Therapies”, 2017).
Gestalt therapy can be said to be a treatment that uses holistic approaches to address the various problems that individuals may face. It covers all the experiences of a person such as their thoughts, actions, and feelings. A key aspect of the therapy is the gaining of self-awareness in the current events.
Human Givens Psychotherapy is a new approach in the treatment activities that is referred to as a ‘bio-psycho-social’ approach. Its underlying assumption is that people have inborn needs referred to as givens that must be met for a person to enjoy mental well-being.
Person-centered therapy is a therapy that has an emphasis on the self-worth and values of a person. It is believed that a person can accept who he/she is and reconnect with the self when he/she is valued as an individual and not judged (“Humanistic Therapies”, 2017).
Necessary Skills for Enhanced Communication within Sexual Health
Effective communication within sexual health requires that the persons involved possess certain skills that will transmit the information to the clients. As such, a sexual health educator must be able to identify their values, attitudes, and knowledge. The identification of the aforementioned key areas will help the instructor in desensitizing and incorporation of experiences in the sexual health education. Another skill that sexual health educators must possess is a vast knowledge of the feeling and attitudes on particular sexual issues that the society faces.
The educator must also have research methods skills to help them take advantage of the available educational opportunities to expand their knowledge of sexual health issues that the clients face or could face shortly. Besides, the sexual health educator must have the ability to embrace new innovative techniques and approaches that can help in addressing particular issues. The sexual health educator must also have skills that can assist them in affiliate the program with other agencies and professionals to ensure that the program succeeds. Finally, they must have monitoring and evaluation skills to make sure that the effects of the programs can be detected and rated against the objectives of the sexual health programs (World Health Organization, 2015).
Approaches to Community Engagement within Sexual Health Service Provision
Community involvement within sexual health service delivery requires the planning and defining of communication and interaction about the program with the community. Such engagements will help make the program successful since it will assist in the identification of other critical areas such as the design of the services, approaches to sharing benefits, procedures involving confidentiality, advocacy strategies, and recruitment of more sexual health educators.
Another critical area in the engagement of the community within sexual health service provision is the definition of communities that are to be engaged. Although it is a complex task since people tend to belong to multiple communities, it has to be carried out. It is, however, important to note that the definition of the various communities must reduce the instances of stereotypes within the community because of the grouping of people within the community (O’Mara-Eves et al., 2015).
Engaging with diverse communities is faced with several challenges. One of the main difficulties is explaining to the community the reasoning behind the sexual health education. For instance, information sexual workers and male-to-male sexual partners that they can benefit from HIV prevention program can be mistaken as a promotion of homosexuality. Besides, information such as increased levels of HIV among particular groups such as male sexual partners can lead to stereotypes in which they end up being associated with being infected. Besides, the identification of the groups that require attention in sexual health leads to the discrimination of members of the community thus making the program fail because of the dropping out of clients owing to the fear of stigma. Besides, the people involved in the education and care of individuals with sexual health needs are stigmatized thus paralyzing the program in some areas (Molyneux et al., 2016).
Effective communication is paramount in all the public health programs to guarantee the achievement of the desired goals by the stakeholders, the participants, and the target group. Sexual health is a domain within public health that also requires the coordination of several elements to help in the delivery of the information to the target group. One of the most important aspects of sexual health is the use of enchanted communication skills that engage the target populations adequately. The second element is the use of proper counseling methods. The third element is appropriate skills for counselors to communicate with the community efficiently. The final part is community engagement that actualizes the plans and goals of the sexual health programs.
References
Bailey, J., Mann, S., Wayal, S., Hunter, R., Free, C., Abraham, C., & Murray, E. (2015). Sexual health promotion for young people delivered via digital media: a scoping review. Public Health Research, 3(13).
Brief Sexuality-Related Communication Recommendations for a public health approach. (2015) (1st ed.). London.
Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies. (2017). Counselling-directory.org.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2017, from https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/cognitive-and-behavioural.html
Couples Counselling. (2017). Counselling-directory.org.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2017, from https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/marriage.html
Gabarron, E., & Wynn, R. (2016). Use of social media for sexual health promotion: a scoping review. Global Health Action, 9, 10.3402/gha.v9.32193.
Humanistic Therapies. (2017). Counselling-directory.org.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2017, from https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/humanistic.html
Molyneux, S., Sariola, S., Allman, D., Dijkstra, M., Gichuru, E., Graham, S., … Sanders, E. (2016). Public/community engagement in health research with men who have sex with men in sub-Saharan Africa: challenges and opportunities. Health Research Policy and Systems, 14, 40.
O’Mara-Eves, A., Brunton, G., Oliver, S., Kavanagh, J., Jamal, F., & Thomas, J. (2015). The effectiveness of community engagement in public health interventions for disadvantaged groups: a meta-analysis. BMC Public Health.
Psychoanalytical and Psychodynamic Therapies. (2017). Counselling-directory.org.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2017, from https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/psychoanalytical-and-psychodynamic.html
Scull, T. M., Malik, C. V., & Kupersmidt, J. B. (2014). A Media Literacy Education Approach to Teaching Adolescents Comprehensive Sexual Health Education. The Journal of Media Literacy Education, 6(1), 1–14.
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