Health awareness – CESIE

Participatory approach

The trainer shared instructions on how conduct a healthy life and also presented to the participants basic information related to health services provided in the area where they live to know how they can independently refer to basic health services.

Furthermore, for the participants who were not fluently in the language of the country of arrival it has been useful to use different images that clearly show how to indicate different part of the body and how to express symptoms.

We also discuss about how important is to exercise and eat healthy to boost mental health resilience and we share information on healthy life style: where to buy healthy food, where and how participate in sport activities in the area where they live. All the information were delivered to empower their ability to independently provide for their physical and mental wellbeing.

The methodology that has been used is the participatory approach. The discussion with the participants was activated using a combination of various participative methods such as group discussion, case studies, role playing, games, and so on. To ensure that all the participants have fully understood certain key aspects and important part of this method consisted in collecting direct impressions and feedback from the women involved.

The participatory approaches considered are:

• Activity profile. Ask different people about their daily activities (e.g. Where are the main health services in the area you live? Do you know when you can get a medical check-up? How often do you practice physical activity?)
• Approach members constructively. Reward participants for taking initiative and stimulate the conversation for everybody involved in the discussion. Simple sentences like “That’s a good point but what about… “, or “That’s an interesting point, what do others think? Proved to be beneficial for the discussion.
• Case studies. Discuss an imaginary or real situation from the daily life. (e.g. someone is sick and need to see a doctor. How can he/she book an appointment with the doctor? Or Someone needs to buy vegetables and fruits but the market next to his/her place is too expensive. How to look for a cheaper market that sells healthy food?). To encourage discussion all the participants involved were stimulated with direct questions.
• Participation game. Give some sticks to each participant and once the discussion starts everybody who speaks must give away one of her/his sticks. At the end of the discussion all the participants have to give away all the sticks they have in their hand. No one may speak without sticks. This will give the opportunity for all the participants to be involved in the discussion.

Feedback from participant(s) or trainer:

It was interesting to know how to indicate different part of the body and also to know how to express some symptoms. My Italian is not good so learning words in this area was very helpful!

What was the most interesting thing for me was to understand how to communicate with a doctor and how to book an appointment with a doctor. In the centre where I live, the doctor usually comes to us, but one day it may be helpful to know how to directly contact him/her.