What are Values?

• “Values are enduring beliefs that a specific mode of conduct is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct…”
  (Rokeach, 1973)
• “Values are the dominating force in life…because of the central role they play in directing a person’s activity and influencing their perception of reality”
  (Allport, 1961).
• “Values are concepts or beliefs about desirable end states or behaviors that transcend specific situations, guide selection or evaluation of behavior and events and are ordered by relative importance” (Schwartz and Bilsky, 1987).

What is Values Clarification?

Given the central role that values play in our lives, it is important to understand how values form and how they impact our decision making and behavior.  John Dewey (1939) discussed the experience of valuing as the interdependent processes of reasoning, emoting and behaving: “Valuing occurs when the head and heart … unite in the direction of action” (p. 65).  In order for our choices and actions to be the result of informed, reasoned thoughts and feelings, values clarification was developed. Values clarification (VC) is both a theory and an intervention. The theory was inspired by the field of humanistic psychology led by such thinkers as Abraham Maslow (1959) and Carl Rogers (1961), who believed that people are responsible for discovering their values through the process of honest, open-minded self-examination.  According to Milton Rokeach (1973), values clarification is the process of examining one's basic values and moral reasoning. VC is done to understand oneself – to discover what is important and meaningful (Steele, 1979). And it is a technique for encouraging learners to relate their thoughts and their feelings in order to enrich their awareness of their own values (UNESCO, 2002).

As an intervention, VC was originally developed as a component of public school education to help address the social consequences of unclear values as illustrated by the following quote:

“We would say that these people – and they are legion in our increasingly affluent society – may well suffer from unclear sets of values.  Such people do not seem to have clear purposes, to know what they are for and against, to know where they are going and why. With unclear values, they lack direction for their lives, lack criteria for choosing what to do with their time, their energy, their very being.”
(Raths, Harmin, and Simon, 1966)

Since its original conception in the late 1960s, VC interventions have been applied to a variety of health and social issues including career guidance and professional development, weight loss, and smoking cessation. In the arena of sexual and reproductive health, VC interventions have been increasingly used to address such issues as stigma against people with HIV, clinicians’ willingness to perform abortion procedures and pharmacists’ willingness to fill emergency contraception prescriptions.

It is generally accepted that the process of values clarification involves three main steps: choosing, prizing, and acting (Raths, Harmin and Simon, 1966):

Choosing:  A value must be chosen freely, from alternatives, with an understanding of both positive and negative consequences of that choice. Some questions to consider:

1. What are the alternatives?
2. What made you decide on this particular choice?
3. What will the results of this choice be?
4. What assumptions are you making?
5. How did you arrive at this choice?
6. Were you pressured or coerced into this choice?
7. Did anyone suggest this to you, or did you make this choice on your own?

Prizing:  A chosen value must be associated with some level of satisfaction and affirmation, as well as confidence in the value. Some questions to consider:

1. How do you feel about your choice?
2. Is this something that is really important to you?
3. How satisfied are you with this decision?
4. Would you be prepared to stand up and announce your choice in public?
5. Are you willing to put it in writing?

Acting:  A freely chosen, affirmed value must translate into action. Ideally, the action will lead to some kind of positive outcome and be done repeatedly. Some questions to consider:

1. What are the first steps you will take or have taken to make this choice a reality?
2. Have you made definite plans to act on this value?
3. Is your decision definite or tentative?
4. Is this something you have done or will do regularly?
5. Have you been consistent in your actions?

Central Focus of Values Clarification

The process of values clarification relies on a skilled facilitator who can create a safe, comfortable space and assist participants to:

1. Use rational thinking and emotional awareness to examine personal belief systems and behavior patterns;
2. Relate their thoughts and their feelings in order to enrich their awareness of their own values;
3. Identify and analyze issues for which their values may conflict, through thoughtful reflection and honest self-examination;
4. Specify how they can act in a manner that is consistent with their clarified value(s);
5. Experience new or reframed information or knowledge that is designed to be accessible and relevant (personally, socially, and politically).

Teaching Methods Used in Values Clarification and Attitude Transformation

In addition to following adult learning principles, the following teaching methods are commonly used in VCAT activities and are represented in the activities included in Ipas’s Abortion attitude transformation: A values clarification toolkit for global audiences:

1. Large- and small-group discussion
2. Individual and group work
3. Hypothetical and real dilemmas and case studies
4. Rank ordering and forced choices
5. Sensitivity and listening techniques
6. Expressive activities such as songs, skits, and artwork
7. Games
8. Simulations (i.e. role plays, visualizations)
9. Personal journals and interviews
10. Self-analysis worksheets

Values Clarification for Abortion Attitude Transformation

Unlike the traditional application of values clarification, which does not posit any universal set of preferred values, the Ipas values clarification and attitude transformation (VCAT) toolkit was designed with an agenda: to move participants toward support, acceptance, and advocacy for comprehensive abortion care and related sexual and reproductive health care and rights. The abortion VCAT approach recognizes that values impacting attitudes and beliefs about abortion and related issues can change over time in response to new experiences and a deeper understanding.

An abortion VCAT intervention is a process conducted in a safe environment in which individuals take responsibility to engage in honest, open-minded and critical reflection and evaluation of new or reframed information and situations.  The content is designed to be accessible and personally relevant.  The abortion VCAT activities that appear in this toolkit are designed to:

1. Provoke participants to challenge deeply-held assumptions and myths about abortion and related issues;
2. Help participants discover or potentially transform their values on abortion;
3. Assist participants to express their intentions to act in a manner consistent with their affirmed values.

Goal of an Abortion VC Workshop

The goal of an abortion VC workshop:
For individuals to explore, question, clarify and affirm their values and beliefs about abortion and related sexual and reproductive health issues such that their awareness and comfort with the provision of comprehensive, woman-centered abortion care is increased.

Objectives of an Abortion VCAT Workshop

By the end of an abortion values clarification workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Distinguish between assumptions, myths and realities surrounding unwanted pregnancy, abortion and the women and families who experience them;
2. Explain correct information about abortion and the circumstances surrounding it in a concise and easily understandable manner;
3. Demonstrate empathy toward the women, families and health-care workers who experience abortion;
4. Identify the values that inform their current beliefs and attitudes about abortion and describe alternative values and their consequences;
5. Choose and affirm values that inform their attitudes and beliefs toward the provision of comprehensive abortion care;
6. State abortion-care behavioral intentions hat are consistent with their affirmed values;
7. Demonstrate a separation of their personal beliefs from their professional roles and responsibilities in the provision of abortion services (for service providers).

Objectives of an Abortion VCAT Trainer’s Workshop

By the end of an abortion VCAT trainer’s workshop, participants will be able to:

1. (All of the above objectives, plus the following):
2. Describe the characteristics of an effective abortion VCAT facilitator;
3. Explain effective ways to handle challenging participants or situations in an abortion VCAT training event;
4. Demonstrate effective facilitation of VCAT activities.

References

Allport, GordonW. (1961). Pattern and growth in personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Dewey, John. (1939). Theory of valuation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Maslow, Abraham. (1959). New knowledge in human values. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Raths, L., Harmin, M., and Simon, S. (1966). Values and teaching: Working with values in the classroom. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co.
Rokeach, Milton(1973). The nature of human values. New York: Free Press.
Rogers, Carl. (1961). On becoming a person. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Schwartz, Shalom H and Bilsky, Wolfgang. (1987). Toward a universal psychological structure of human values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 550-562.
UNESCO (2002). Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Available at: http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/. Last accessed on July 8, 2005.