Training Of A Staff Of Institutions For Mentally Disabled People. Hiv/Aids/Sti Prevention And Safer Sex Education In Welfare Institutions.
Ester Väljaots , M.S.Ed.
sexual counselor, trainer, supervisor
ester@ego-koolitus.ee , +3725282315
10-hour training sessions were held between February and October, 2010 in twelve institutions in different parts of Estonia. Mostly client workers were involved, who on everyday basis deal with different mentally disabled people.
Training groups consisted about 20 people, 15 men and 217 women in total.
The average age of participants was 46 years.
The aim of trainings was participants' increased knowledge on HIV/AIDS/STI prevention, sexual behavior and increased tolerance.
2 more trainings are planned for October, 2010 for 40 employees.
The biggest welfare organization in Estonia is AS Welfare Services, it consists of 18 institutions all over Estonia and employ about 1000 workers in total.
The aim of trainings: about 30% of employees have correct knowledge on HIV/AIDS, increased knowledge on prevention, sexual behavior and increased tolerance.
The clients of welfare institutions are people with special psychological needs (adults and children with mental disability, psychotic disorder or an organic mental disorder).
Welfare institutions offer overnight service and different support services.
Interactive methods were used during the trainings: group works, discussions, role plays, lectures, case studies, practical exercises, training films etc.
Before the trainings, participants filled in a form with questions on both the knowledge and attitudes.
After the trainings participants filled in a similar questionnaire as well as a feedback form, which evaluated two aspects of the training: getting new information and being interesting, both on five points scale.
Knowledge was assessed using five questions, on which a WHO indicator is based.
According to this indicator, 227 respondents out of 232 had correct knowledge after the trainings. Before the training, less than half of participants had correct knowledge.
On average, participants evaluated the training to be interesting with the 4.8 points and being informative with 4,4 points out of 5.
In addition, post-training evaluation showed increased tolerance and supportiveness.
As a next step we wish to train at least one person from every institution to have a basic competence in sexual counseling. This means we should provide one group of 18 participants with a longer training with lectures by different specialists and practical work.
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