Module 1: What Is HIV Test Counseling? Why Is It Important?
Completion requirements
Module 1: What is HIV Test Counseling?
Module 1: What Is HIV Test Counseling? Why Is It Important? Screen 4 of 12
What's the Big Deal?
Most other medical tests don’t come with counseling. Why do we counsel people who come for an HIV test? The answer lies in the history of HIV and AIDS.
As you may know, HIV is a fairly new disease. In 1981, doctors in New York and Los Angeles suddenly realized that otherwise healthy gay men were developing severe immune system problems, including rare types of pneumonia and a skin cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma. These men, many of them young, became desperately ill and died within weeks or months. No one knew what was causing the illness.
The earliest cases of the disease were nearly all diagnosed among gay men, so it was originally called gay-related immunodeficiency disease (GRID). Before long, injection drug users, people with hemophilia, and others were identified as having the new immune system disease as well, and its name was changed to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
In the beginning, no one knew what caused AIDS or how it was transmitted. There was a lot of panic and terrible prejudice against gay men and others who were infected.
Ask yourself: Can you name 3 important elements of an HIV test counseling session?
If not, reread the last few screens.
What's the Big Deal?Most other medical tests don’t come with counseling. Why do we counsel people who come for an HIV test? The answer lies in the history of HIV and AIDS.
As you may know, HIV is a fairly new disease. In 1981, doctors in New York and Los Angeles suddenly realized that otherwise healthy gay men were developing severe immune system problems, including rare types of pneumonia and a skin cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma. These men, many of them young, became desperately ill and died within weeks or months. No one knew what was causing the illness.
The earliest cases of the disease were nearly all diagnosed among gay men, so it was originally called gay-related immunodeficiency disease (GRID). Before long, injection drug users, people with hemophilia, and others were identified as having the new immune system disease as well, and its name was changed to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
In the beginning, no one knew what caused AIDS or how it was transmitted. There was a lot of panic and terrible prejudice against gay men and others who were infected.
Ask yourself: Can you name 3 important elements of an HIV test counseling session?
If not, reread the last few screens.