ABSTRACT
According to demographic modelling of the HIV/AIDS epidemic it is estimated that AIDS will have caused 31,000 to 41,000 deaths in Soweto by the year 2000. Both the kind and degree of HIV/AIDS counselling training which nurse-counsellors at Baragwanath hospital have received is varied. It is also important to point out that counselling services at Baragwanath are generally confined to post-test counselling for HIV-infected patients, and very little pre-test counselling occurs. The findings of this chapter suggest that where support is read as the alleviation of distress, and health promotion is read as the provision of guidance, the result will be a spontaneous and uneasy form of reassurance and advice-giving which may well be counter-productive.
