ABSTRACT
One of the most critical of the challenges facing health care providers is the need to better define and characterize HIV/AIDS counselling (Bor & Miller, 1988; Balmer, 1992; Schopper & Walley, 1992). In South Africa, feasible and appropriate objectives for counselling services, both within and outside hospital settings, are only beginning to be properly debated and evaluated (Fleming, 1992; Tallis, 1992). For this reason, a study was conducted in which we attempted to gain insight into both the ways in which nurse-counsellors at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto understand and experience their role as counsellors, and their perceptions of the factors mitigating against achieving their counselling objectives.
