House of Numbers

Source: rawpixel.com

HIV or Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a distinctly stigmatized illness. Stigma impacts every area of social and medical care for individuals infected with HIV or in danger of being infected. It is not usual for the diagnosis of an illness to lead to the possible loss of family, home, or religious support networks, as well as the infected individual’s relationships with his community. However, this is a genuine threat for someone who is diagnosed with HIV or AIDS.

Stigma can potentially inhibit people in danger of HIV infection from determining their symptoms or detrimental factors early in their life because recognizing the personal hazard of HIV pushes him to confront his own biases about individuals with HIV and connect those behaviors with himself.

One of the most relevant objectives of HIV prevention counseling is to decrease internal stigma by providing knowledge about the disease in an impartial, nonjudgmental way. Healthcare providers must encompass the decrease of stigma by managing people who are in danger of HIV infection with compassion, patience, and respect in all possible circumstances.

HIV prevention counseling assists patients and healthcare providers in determining the risk factors and manifestations that may signify an infection. It helps them learn how to anticipate a potential positive HIV result and consider how they are going to respond to such an outcome. Initially, the patient is urged to choose a person he can trust to tell about the result. HIV-infected individuals who have a support network find it very beneficial, especially when they deal with positive results.

HIV prevention counseling is also an efficient public health intervention, as it disseminates the health status of an individual living with the disease and plays a vital role in decreasing the transmission of HIV. Client-centered strategies, risk-reduction techniques, and education about transmission are among the basic emphases of HIV prevention counseling.

Health Education

Source: worldvision.org

Education regarding the cause and spread of HIV is a vital part of HIV prevention counseling. The majority of patients link HIV with dying and have little knowledge about what it really is and how it impacts the body. Those who are living in African countries think that HIV-related diseases have something to do with witchcraft. Families believe that one of them may have been bewitched by someone envious of their success or happiness. Because of this belief, HIV-related diseases are managed through sorcery and other conventional means, and the real disease itself is not acknowledged to be a potential cause.

Healthcare professionals can help decrease fear and stigma by talking about the basics of HIV – that it is a virus that gets into the body and eventually results in the immune system becoming weak and less effective, making HIV more vulnerable to infections than compared to those without the virus. Knowing more about HIV will tremendously help an infected individual learn more about HIV transmission instead of relating it to committing a very bad deed, which led him to have the disease. This will further alleviate his worries about potentially spreading the virus to others through ordinary activities.

Family And Couples Counseling

When socially and culturally legal and suitable, counseling partners together to both decide to be tested and wait for the outcomes is usually an effective technique. If only one partner chooses to be tested and receives a positive result, that individual often has feelings of fear and humiliation about telling his partner. The infected partner may feel blamed or rejected for having HIV. One reason to urge the family to be involved is to avoid possible problems with treatment adherence. If a man is found to be HIV-positive, he may not get support from his partner. For instance, she may not decipher the steps necessary to prevent transmission. If she does not want to involve herself in the initial decision to get the test, she may never be tested at all because she will have been too afraid that she, too, is infected with HIV. It is, therefore, ideal for a partner to be included in an initial HIV counseling session. The counselor needs to listen sensibly to both partners and find ways to resolve conflict.

Additionally, accomplishing an accurate evaluation of individual risks when partners are counseled together may be tough because either partner might be hesitant to be truthful about the risk factors. Including other members of the family in counseling could help identify sources of possible treatment supporters. Also, one must consider the functions of the two genders when explaining sexual risk problems. Several patients feel more or less comfortable talking about risk-reduction and sexual issues with a counselor of the opposite sex. In a few cultures, discussing sexual risk patterns freely is not common, particularly if the opposite sex is there during the session.

Source: ct.counseling.org

Adolescent Counseling

Adolescents require particular considerations in HIV prevention counseling, as it is at this stage where physical changes occur and they start to discover their identity. During this stage between childhood and adulthood, a lot of adolescents explore a lot of risky behaviors, and the powerful pull of friends is most influential. Counselors must consider these important factors.

Source: hunterhealth.org

The process of HIV counseling is confidential, and it is technically a conversation between a counselor and his client, which aims to allow the client to deal with stress and make personal choices associated with HIV/AIDS. The counseling process involves assessing the personal hazard of HIV spread and discussing prevention guidelines. It focuses particularly on social and emotional matters associated with potential infection with HIV and AIDS. With the client’s permission, counseling can be done to partners, family members, and relatives.

A counselor has extensive knowledge about his job, which is to hear what his client has to say, ask encouraging questions, talk about the client’s options, provide practical data, and urge his client to make his own decisions recommend follow-up wisely. Counseling can occur anywhere as long as space allows for confidentiality and peace of mind for the client.

Two Forms Of Counseling

The first form is clinic-based counseling, which is offered in a more formal session, such as in a health center, clinic, or hospital, by an experienced professional like a social worker, doctor, psychologist, or nurse. The second form of counseling is community-based counseling, which happens in a non-formal space, usually in an urban neighborhood or village. A particular member of the community trained to provide counseling to his fellow community members is qualified to do this. A pre-test counseling or HIV counseling is frequently recommended in relation to a voluntary test for HIV.

These forms of counseling prepare the clients for the HIV examination, explain the effects of knowing whether or not a person is infected with HIV, and simplify topics of relationships, infection prevention, sexuality, and potential sex and drug-associated risk behaviors. HIV counseling corrects telltales and false allegations on the topic of AIDS. Pre-test counseling must be accessible to everyone who wishes to get it. Those who do not have access or do not want to have the counseling must also not be inhibited from taking a voluntary test. On the contrary, informed consent is always necessary before an HIV test, and the person’s name should be linked to the test result.

To dispel worries while waiting for the results, some people may ask for support from their friends and family and an experienced community member or worker.

Post-test Counseling

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Counseling after the test assists the client in coping and deciphering the HIV test outcome. During this phase, the counselor gets his client ready for the result, hands him the result, and offers the client any more information. If needed, provides referrals for other services. The counselor and his client typically talk about means to decrease the dangers of the transmission of infection. HIV test outcomes must always be handed in in conjunction with counseling. Hence, the type of post-counseling is dependent on the client’s test result. If it is positive, then the counselor relays this clearly to his client and offers emotional and mental support as humanely and lightly as possible. The counselor teaches his client strategies on how to deal with his illness.

Continuous counseling will tremendously help clients acknowledge their HIV and take a healthy attitude towards the matter. With ongoing counseling, the individual concerned may opt to confide in a trusted friend or family member while continually participating in counseling. On the other hand, post-test counseling is also vital following a negative outcome. The client may feel comforted and thankful, but the counselor must stress some points. One, the ‘window period’ might not denote an absence of the HIV infection, and the individual may decide to have a repeat test done after three to six months. Two, a counselor must discuss the prevention of HIV and offer support to help his client embrace and withstand new and healthier practices.

Behavioral Counseling

The accessibility of HIV counseling or therapy, with or without testing, might create an isolated environment for talks about personal and sexual matters. Counseling expands knowledge on AIDS by allowing HIV-related data personally significant. Behavioral counseling has been proven to be effective in many circumstances.

Counseling For Kids

In a lot of places, HIV is affecting kids increasingly. Aside from those infected with HIV, this also includes kids with one or both parents infected with HIV/AIDS or are dead due to AIDS. These kids have specific counseling needs like discrimination by others, emotional trauma, and worries or anxieties about their own illness. Older kids might also require counseling that relates to sexual matters.

Source: lifeworkscc.com

Counseling For The Pregnant

Counseling can definitely be advantageous for pregnant women or those who plan to become pregnant and are either positive for HIV or do not know their current status. Counseling assists them in making wise decisions about whether or not they should get pregnant. If possible, and if the client agrees, it would be more beneficial to let her male partner participate in the counseling sessions. Ultimately, counseling should be made accessible to these pregnant women even before they get pregnant.