HIV/AIDS Assessment, Treatment, and the Role of Mental Health

Course content available in articles.

Fulfills Requirement: HIV-AIDS

Once considered a terminal illness, HIV/AIDs are now classified as chronic illnesses with expectations of lengthy life expectancy. However, in spite of marked advances in treatment, over a million people die from HIV/AIDS globally each year, resulting in ongoing concerns regarding prevention, adherence to treatment, and treatment of comorbid mental health concerns.

This beginning level course is comprised of 11 articles. Part one provides an overview of the assessment, treatment, and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Included are definitions and explanation of transmission, how a person becomes infected, current methods of treatment, challenges to adherence, prevention and concerns of special populations.

The second section of this course provides an overview of the role of counseling and psychotherapy with HIV/AIDS patients. Articles are provided discussing the importance of integrative approaches to addressing mental health and HIV and the growing trends for integrative models of care. The final article provides an overview of basic components of counseling and education that have shown to be effective in working with mental health concerns arising out of having HIV.

This course fulfills HIV-AIDS for CA-LCSW, LPCC & LMFT 1st renewal.

Educational Objectives

This course will teach the participant to:

Summarize the current basic information about HIV/AIDS, including definition, transmission, and how a person becomes infected
Describe how HIV and AIDS are treated and the drug therapies available
Describe types of prevention of HIV disease infection
Discuss the bi-directional relationship between mental health concerns and HIV
Identify the most common comorbid HIV and mental health disorders
Discuss the role of the therapist in counseling those with HIV/AIDS, including providing counseling, education, and social support

Syllabus

HIV Overview
- HIV and AIDS: The basics
HIV Prevention
- The basics of HIV prevention
- Preventing exposure
HIV Treatment
- Overview
- Adherence
Side Effects of Medication
HIV and Pregnancy
- Preventing perinatal transmission
- Medications during pregnancy and childbirth
HIV and Specific Populations
- Children and adolescents
- Women
- Gay and bisexual men
- Older adults
HIV and opportune infections
Living with HIV
- Treatment
- Mental health
- Nutrition
- Substance abuse
Mental health and HIV - the need for an integrated response
Using service animals for social support
HIV & mental health
- Comorbid conditions
- Substance abuse
- Depression
- Therapeutic interventions

HIV200

August 3, 2022

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