MODULE TITLE: HEALTH AWARENESS

LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION

Introduction

Young people today may face many challenges and problems in their growth and
development that may lead to HIV infections and drug and substance abuse.
There is need to equip them with appropriate knowledge and skills to cope with
the situation.

Definition of life skills

Life skills are abilities which enable an individual to develop adaptive and positive
behavior so as to deal effectively with challenges and demands of everyday life.

Basic Assumptions for Life skills Education

 The youth are able to make rational decisions if they are equipped with
adequate information, skills and desirable attitudes.
 Life skills education is an effective intervention measure responding to
HIV/AIDS pandemic and other social problems in society.
 Life skills education can be effectively integrated in the existing education
programmers.

The importance of life skills

In a constantly changing environment, having life skills is an essential part of
being able to meet the challenges of everyday life. The dramatic changes in global
economies over the past five years have been matched with the transformation in
technology and these are all impacting on education, the workplace and our home
life. To cope with the increasing pace and change of modern life, students need
new life skills such as the ability to deal with stress and frustration. Today’s
students will have many new jobs over the course of their lives, with associated
pressures and the need for flexibility.
Life skills education if well developed and practiced it enhances the well being of a
society and promotes positive outlook and healthy behavior. In particular, it
enables the individual to;

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  Translates knowledge, attitudes, skills and values into actions
 Behave responsibly and this leads to healthy living
 Develop positive attitudes of themselves and others
 Develop full potential
 Promote the state of mental well being as this motivates them and others
 Promotes free behavior
 Communicate effectively develop negotiation skills
 Perceive oneself by;
i. Building self confidence
ii. Building self esteem
iii. Building self worth

Generally, life skills education will have long term benefits to the society. This
includes education, social, health , cultural and economic benefits.

a). Educational Benefits

 Strengthen teacher pupil relationship

 Leads to desirable behavior
 Improves discipline in schools
 Reduces learner problems such as truancy, absenteeism, drug and substance
abuse and teenage pregnancies
 Helps learners to improve their performance.

b). Social Benefits

 Improves the socialization process among learners such as relating to others

in a friendly way.
 Enables learners to choose good and reliable friends
 Helps learners to use their leisure time properly
 Assists learners to recognize and avoid risky situations
 Brings about meaningful interaction among learners, teaches and the school
community
 Helps in character building

c). Health Benefits

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  Leads to prevention and control of diseases such as STIs and HIV/AIDS
 Contributes to a person’s general well being (Psychological, Physical and
mental)
 Leads to less strain on health facilities
 Helps people be responsible for their own and other people’s health

d). Cultural Benefits

 Enables people to adopt and maintain meaningful cultural practices and

avoiding practices that may put other people at risk of HIV infection
 Promotes harmonious interaction between people of different cultures
 Helps in the clarification of values in the society.

e). Economic Benefits

 Leads to high productivity due to a strong and energetic labor force

 Saving is increased as money used on management and control of
HIV;AIDS can be invested elsewhere.

f). Benefits for the individual

In everyday life, the development of life skills helps students to: 
 Find new ways of thinking and problem solving
 Recognize the impact of their actions and teaches them to take responsibility
for what they do rather than blame others
 Build confidence both in spoken skills and for group collaboration and
cooperation
 Analyze options, make decisions and understand why they make certain
choices outside the classroom
 Develop a greater sense of self-awareness and appreciation for others

g). Benefits for employment

While students work hard to get good grades, many still struggle to gain
employment. According to research by the CBI (Confederation of British Industry)
in 2011 employers were looking not just for academic success but key
employability skills including:

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  The ability to self-manage, solve problems and understand the business
environment
 Working well as part of a team 
 Time and people management 
 Agility and adaptability to different roles and flexible working
environments 
 The potential to lead by influence

h). Resilience
Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy,
threats, or even significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship
problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. It means
“bouncing back” from difficult experiences.
Being resilient does not mean that a person doesn’t experience difficulty or
distress. Emotional pain and sadness are common in people who have suffered
major adversity or trauma in their lives. In fact, the road to resilience is likely to
involve considerable emotional distress.

Resilience is not a trait that people either have or do not have. It involves
behaviors, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed in anyone.

Several additional factors are associated with resilience, including:

 The capacity to make realistic plans and take steps to carry them out
 A positive view of yourself and confidence in your strengths and abilities
 Skills in communication and problem solving
 The capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses
All of these are factors that people can develop in them.

CATEGORIES OF LIFE SKILLS

Life skills are classified into three categories as follows:

1. Skills of Knowing and living with Oneself (Emotional skills)

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 Self-awareness

Self awareness is the knowledge of oneself in terms of what one can do and
what cannot do. It enables young people to know and understand themselves
well, their background, their feelings, emotions, their position in society, their
likes and dislikes, and their strengths and weaknesses.

These then enables them to make choices that are in line with their abilities and
the existing opportunities. It is the basis of all life skills.

Self esteem

It is the awareness of the good in self. It involves what individuals feel about
their personal attributes (Physical and Psychological).

This is largely influenced by individual’s relationships with others. For

example, family members, friends, teachers, peers and others. Self esteem is
also shaped by environment and culture of individual institutions.

Institutions as socialization agents can create an environment which is

conducive to building high self esteem. This can be done by;

 Catering for individual differences

 Creating an incentive system

 Having a variety of interesting activities

Coping with emotions

Emotions are strong feelings which are reactions to situations, people and issues.
Such emotions include, love, joy, hate, fear, anger, jealousy and desire. Emotions
are unpredictable and can at times lead to irrational actions or decisions.
Sometimes they lead to people taking actions that are regrettable.

Therefore, there is need to come up with ways of coping with emotions. This
includes:

 Having self control

 Stopping and thinking about the situation

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  Delaying taking action

 Counseling

 Getting involved in other duties

Coping with Stress

Stress is undue pressure, tension or worry resulting from problems and

challenges in one’s life. Examples of these include:

 Relationships

 Examination pressure

 Family problems

 Death of loved ones

 Peer pressure

 Adolescence problems

Strategies of developing coping mechanisms

 Provision of guidance and counseling services

 Establishing school programmes that address learners needs

 Involving learners in appropriate activities

 Establishing social support systems

 Encouraging open communications with parents

 Giving youth skills that would enable them to choose good friends

2. Skills of knowing and living with others - Interpersonal Relationship

(Social skills)

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 These are skills that enable individuals to interact with other people
effectively and meaningfully. Relationships are essential in life and take
different forms. This relationship can be enhanced by developing the
following skills:

 Assertiveness

It is the ability to state ones feelings without anger or passivity and or

achieving what one wants by being firm and focused. For example a girl
refusing sexual advances in a polite and firm way. It is enhance by:

 Having high self esteem

 Being confident

 Having self respect

 Expressing positive and negative views about a given situation or

issue

 Being specific

 Being conscious of one’s rights

 Safe guarding ones rights

An assertive person is able to use communication skills and other personality traits
like self-respect and self-confidence so as to have responsible relationships with
other people.

Youth can be helped to develop assertiveness by:

 Encouraging open communication among learners

 Respecting individuals opinions

 Catering for individual differences

Empathy

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It is the ability to put yourself in the shoes of others and feeling with them as they
face various challenges and problems in life. Some of the situations where one may
need empathy are:

 When somebody has lost their parents

 When examination results are not favorable

 When relationships have been broken

 When relatives or friends are sick

We can empathize with others by:

 Being kind

 Being warm

 Being caring

 Listening to others as they express their ideas and feelings

 Being available to others in times of need.

Effective communication

Communication is the exchange of feelings, opinions, ideas words and actions

between people. Effective communication can been enhanced by:

 Clarity of message

 Use appropriate language

 Observing appropriate timing

 Listening

 Asking questions

 Observing non-verbal actions or reactions

 Considering the type of audience

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Communication helps people to clarify ideas, correct misconceptions, share
experiences, reduce stress and provide feedback for improvement. This increases
self awareness and self esteem of the individuals which makes them more focused
in life.

Negotiations Skills

 It is the ability to discuss issues in a calm and open way so as to reach a

consensus based on some mutual understanding. It involves two or more
people stating their position more openly, convincing each other to reach a
compromise, but not necessarily taking advantage of either side. It provides
a way of a difficult situation. One needs to be confident in order to negotiate
effectively.

 Negotiation skills are important when one is confronted with peer pressure
or finds him/herself in a threatening situation.

Conflict Resolution

Conflicts are serious disagreements with others which may result in verbal
or physical confrontation. They can also be internal when an individual has
two opposing feelings or views about an issue or situation. This threatens
peaceful co-existence or relationship among people. The existence of
conflicts between people may result to:

 Rape

 Contracting HIV/AIDS

 Unwanted pregnancies

 Riots

 Broken families

 Emergency of refugee

 Drug and Substance Abuse

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 Conflict resolution entails establishing a harmonious and peaceful environment
or situation. This can be done by:

 Establishing the cause of the conflict

 Creating an atmosphere of calmness where the parties concerned can

relax during the conflict resolution

 Establishing a fair playground

 Giving fair hearing to all parties

 Taking adequate time and assessing the consequences of actions to be

taken

 Accepting and coming into terms with the situation

3. Skills of Making Effective Decisions(Cognitive skills)

This is the ability to take rational actions based on adequate information,

weighing alternatives and appreciating consequences of the choices made.

Skills of making effective decisions consist of following:

Creative Thinking

This involves coming up with new things or new ways of doing things when faced
with unfamiliar situations or problems. Sometimes people find themselves in risky
situations due to peer pressure, adventures or acting out of emotions such as anger
or fear.

Critical Thinking

This is the ability to analyze and evaluate ideas or issues objectively. It involves
weighing options and making rational choices or decisions that are well thought
out in order to arrive at a rational decision.

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Critical Thinking helps the youth to think through ideas, situations and issues
before taking any action.

Problem Solving

It is the ability to come up with workable solutions to different situations. It

involves appreciating the nature of the problem by analyzing the causes and
looking for possible options. This enables individuals to take the best alternative in
whatever situations one is confronted with.

Steps in Making a Decision

A. Take time to identify the issue

B. Reflect about the problem or issue at hand

C. Consult and seek advice from others

D. Pray or meditate

E. Consider your faith, beliefs and values

F. Weigh all the options and alternatives available

G. Think about the possible consequences of your action

H. Consider the impact of your action

I. Take the best option

J. Make the decision

K. Implement the Decision

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SEXUAL AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

DEFINITION

United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees(UNHCR) defines sexual and

gender based violence as any act that is perpetrated against a person’s will, and is
based on gender norms and unequal power relationship. It includes, physical,
emotional or psychological violence’s, denial of resources or access to services.
Other forms include; rape and sexual abuse or female genital cutting, marital rape,
dowry related violence, female infanticide, homicide, sexual harassment, forced
prostitution, sex trafficking, and sexual violence used during war inform of
intimidation and torture.(USAID,2006;Bloom 2008;Lawry,2011

TYPES OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Gender based violence can be classified into two major classes

i. Direct violence
ii. Indirect violence

Direct gender violence

These usually occur due to unequal power relation between men and women. The
historical and contemporary subordination on women in economic, social and
political life must be acknowledged when explaining the prevalence of direct
violence against women in the society.

These include physical,sexual,psychological and economic violence.

 Violence in close relationship

 Sexual violence-including rape, sexual assault, and harassment in all
public and private spheres of life
 Trafficking in human being, slavery, and sexual exploitation
 Harmful practices such as child and forced marriages, female genital
mutilation, and crimes committed in the name of so called’ honor’.
 Emerging forms of violation such as online harassment, various forms of
sexual abuse instigated or facilitated through the use of information and
communication technologies, stalking and bullying.
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  Psychological violence’s include; threats, humiliation, mocking and
controlling behaviours’
 Economic violences include denying access of the victim to financial
resources, property, healthcare, or the labour market and denying them in
participation in economic decision making.

Indirect gender based violence

This is a type of structural violence characterized by norms, attitudes and

stereotypes around gender in general and violence against women in particular.

Indirect violence operates within a larger societal context; Institutions, and the
individuals within and outside this institutions, are all engaged in the production
of attitudes which normalize violence against women ;United Nations
1992.Looking at this attitudes, can provide ayes in which the indirect forms of
violence are created and sustained and even more importantly how they contribute
to and support direct violences against women.

CAUSES OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

According to WHO, most common forms of violence against women is that

performed by husband or male partner.

Religion has played a role in increasing SGBV,whereby it places women below

men, reinforcing patriarchy.”God’s arrangement’

Culture is another contributing factor, whereby its believed, it’s the way in which
people live.e.g arranged marriages, celebration of the birth of a boy child unlike a
girl child, the age factor, in arranged marriage.

Education too contributes to GBV.-In most countries, women are asked to stay at
home and take care of the home as men go to school. This causes the woman to
depend on a man financially, causing inequality, where by a woman is prone to
face violence due to dependence on men who take authority over all aspects of
their personal lives

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Myths about domestic abuse-people believe that only the poor and uneducated
women suffer domestic violence, but the fact is that anyone can face domestic
abuse irrespective of their gender, financial status or level of education.

RISK FACTORS

 Individual Factors
These are biological and personal history factors that increase risk of
violence. for example low level of education, young age, early marriage,and
low economic status/income has been associated as risk factors for both
experiencing and perpetrating intimate partner violences. Past experience of
violence during childhood as well as a history of experiencing for women or
perpetrating(for men) violence in previous intimate relationship. Pregnant
women are also at high risk of experiencing violence by an intimate partner.
While studies point out to harmful use of alcohol and the perpetration of the
intimate partner violence and sexual violence, there is only weak evidence
for a truly causal relationship between the use of alcohol and perpetration of
violence.
People with disabilities are also more at risk of sexual and gender based
violence
Attitudes also play a role. There is a strong correlation between women and
men perceiving violence as acceptable behaviour and their exposure to
intimate partner and sexual violence( WHO/LSHTM2010 WITH MULTPLE
REFFERENCES)

 Relation Ship Level Factor.

This contributes to GBV at the level of relationship with peers, intimate
partners, and family members.eg men having multiple partners are more
likely to perpetrate intimate partner’s violence or sexual violence. such men
are likely to engage in risky behaviour with multiple sexual partners by
refusing condoms, exposing themselves to higher risks of HIV. Other factors
related to intimate partner violence include; low marital satisfaction, and
continuous disagreements as well as disparity in education status between
the partners. Furthermore, family responses to sexual violence that blame
women and concentrate on restoring lost family honour rather than
punishing men,create an environment in which rape can occur with
impunity(WHO/LSHTM 2010 with multiple references)

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  Community Level Factors
These refers to the extent to which tolerance towards given context at which
social relationship are embedded such as schools, workplace or the
neighbour hoods.
Societies that has community sanctions against violence including moral
pressure for neighbours to intervene, in places and where women had access
to shelter or family support ,has the lowest level of intimate partner and
sexual violence. While intimate partner and sexual violence do cut across all
socio economic groups, several studies found women living in poverty to be
disproportionately affected. Poverty is seen as a marker for variety of social
conditions that combine to increase the risks faced by women.e.g collecting
firewood alone risks rape, poverty push one to sex with bosses to secure
jobs, sex works etc

 Society Level Factors

These include cultural and social norms that shape gender roles and unequal
distribution of power between men and women intimate partner violence
occurs more often in societies where men have economic and decision
making powers in the household and where women do not have easy access
to divorce and where adults routinely resort to violence to resolve their
conflicts. Further ideologies of male sexual entitlement that are common in
many cultures exclude the possibility that woman is entitled to take
autonomous decision about participating in sex.
And to refuse a man’s sexual advances and are used to legitimise the use of
sexual violence, sexual breakdown due to conflicts or disastrous further
increases the risk of rape in conflict and post conflict situations.(WHO
/LSHTM 2010with multiple references)

 Social And Political Idealization

This is where certain roles or jobs are for men. Such paranoid idealization
discriminate women in family, government and even workplace setting,
where men are granted the majority of social and political power.

EFFECTS OF SEXUAL GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

SGBV affects all aspects of women, physical, sexual, and reproductive, mental and
behavioral health. Health consequences of SGBV can be both immediate and acute
as well as lasting and chronic, indeed negative health consequences may persist
long after the violence has stopped.

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The more severe the level of violence, the greater the impact on one’s health.
Furthermore, exposure to more than one type of violence e.g. physical, and sexual
and multiple incidents of violence over time tends to lead to more severe health
consequences WHO 2002, Johnson/Leone 2005, both cited in WHO/PAHO2012a

The effects include;

1. Physical effects include injuries, functional impairments, and permanent

disabilities.

2. Psychosomatic effects; chronic pain syndrome, irritable bowel, gastro-intestinal

disorders e.g. peptic ulcers, urinary tract infections, respiratory disorders.

3. Negative health behaviours; alcohol and drug abuse, smoking, sexual risk
taking, self injuries behaviour

4. Effects on reproductive health; pelvic inflammatory disease, unwanted

pregnancies, pregnancy complications, low birth weight.

1. Psychological factors; post traumatic stress disorder, depression, fears,

sleeping disorders, low self esteem, suicidal tendencies
2. Fatal effects; fatal injuries; killing, homicide, suicide

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