A 12 page research paper that examines how a positive diagnosis for HIV impacts the patient and the patient¹s support group. The writer gives particular emphasis to the problems encountered by mothers who are diagnosed as HIV positive and how this impacts their children. The ramifications of recent research are discussed along with observations as to how intervention by health care professionals can have a positive impact on AIDS patients and their families. Bibliography lists 10 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_90aids.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
affect the lives of solid, middle-class citizens are long gone (Hunt, 1996). Also, gone are the days when only a handful of counselors were required to handle the social needs
of people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The AIDS epidemic has changed. It has grown and mutated and exploded to the extent that social interaction is urgently needed
by those individuals and their families who are forced to cope with the huge psychological impact of this deadly disease (Hunt, 1996). As the world enters the second decade
of the HIV pandemic, it becomes increasing more imperative that rehabilitation professionals become knowledgeable as to the specific needs and issues that impact people who are HIV-infected (Hunt, 1996). According
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 4,000 people in the US are diagnosed every month as having AIDS (Hunt, 1996, p. 68). Estimates place the number
of people in the US who are HIV-infected at anywhere from 1 to 2 million (Hunt, 1996). While homosexual men still represent the largest group of people with AIDS
(44%), the numbers of women who are infected are increasing and they now represent roughly 18% of all cases (Hunt, 1996, p. 68). This means that AIDS quite often affects
families?not just the person infected, but those who will provide the support system that the AIDS patient so urgently requires. Before discussing the psychological impact on these families, it
is helpful to have a general idea of how the course of AIDS usually runs. An Overview of HIV Disease While AIDS is still used in the popular media as
a generic term, many health professionals now use the term HIV disease when describing the complicated disease process that HIV/AIDS entails. This distinction is important because not everyone who is