Informal Role Strategies of Outreach Workers In Family Planning Clinics.

Formal role responsibilities of the family planning outreach worker include a number of nebulous terms such as "help," "aid," and "assist." Though some duties included in these responsibilities are highly specific (e.g. taking blood pressure), the nature of the organizational task (convincing clients to accept and use family planning methods) and the locale in which much of the work is performed (outside the boundaries of the organization) makes the role highly amenable to the peculiarities of the worker's personality. Interviews with ten outreach workers in two family planning clinics revealed five informal adaptations of the role used by varying numbers of the workers -- social distance mediator, community supplier and bargainer, political and social debater, confidant and friend, and comic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]