ABSTRACT
This chapter provides particular relevance to GPs and practice nurses who are interested in counselling and psychotherapeutic approaches to primary care. It explores some of the underlying ideas behind sexual health promotion methods. It is based on the experience of the National AIDS Counselling Training Unit, a unit funded by the Department of Health, which offers PGEA-accredited training for GPs as well as courses for other NHS professionals. To work successfully in this broader conception of sexual health, professionals need training that addresses three essential areas: knowledge, values and skills. Changing sexual behaviour is a particular challenge, since patients resist change being advocated on the basis of knowledge, attitudes or beliefs that they do not share. Patients attending with Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) or sexual health problem may show a high level of concern and stated desire to change. However, it is often not their behaviour so much as the infection that they wish to change.
