HIV/AIDS Assessment and Treatment

In this beginning- intermediate level course, the focus is on the assessment and treatment of HIV/AIDS with an emphasis on counseling. The student will gain the essential knowledge to assess and treat people infected with HIV or who have AIDS. It covers the basics of the current information about HIV/AIDS, including definition, transmission, types of virus, how a person becomes infected, progression, evidence that HIV causes AIDS and how, and the origin of HIV/AIDS. Prevention concerns are addressed recognizing special populations.

How HIV/AIDS patients are treated medically is explained along with how to care for them. Most pertinently, the course discusses counseling and psychotherapy with HIV/AIDS patients. It focuses on counselor roles, key issues, client centered counseling, family issues, mental health disorders, legal (discrimination and stigma) issues and finally, end-of-life issues. AIDS is still considered a terminally ill disease. The course concludes with a brief discussion of Growing old with HIV/AIDS. Additional resources and references are provided for further study, but they are not part of the course.