AIDS Social Workers

Looks at the dangers, relationships with clients, treatment, socioeconomics, diagnosis, at-risk behavior, prevention, and public perceptions. This paper is an examination of the problems that the rising epidemic of HIV infection and AIDS poses to social workers, both as a direct issue in providing service to infected clients and as an indirect part of the overall job of social work. The prevalence of this devastating illness has had a profound effect on society as a whole. The consequences for social workers, however, are even greater, since the field services many of the patients most profoundly affected, either those who are suffering from advanced stages of the disease or those who are closely involved with the ailing. In order to provide the most effective service possible, social workers need to understand the stages of HIV and AIDS, the most current medical understanding of the ways in which HIV can be transmitted, some of the current treatments, and funding and other resources that are available to diagnosed.