Influence of guidance and counseling on HIV/AIDS patients: the Case Of Pumwani Clinic, Nairobi

Abstract

This study investigated the influence and effectiveness of guidance and counseling on HIV/AIDS patients. This study was conducted in Pumwani Division in Nairobi and the specific site was the Pumwani Health Clinic. The field work was carried out between February 2003 and July 2003. The study sought to find out the kind of people that attended counseling, to describe knowledge, attitudes and practice of counseling information provided on HIV/AIDS, to describe the goals of counseling that have been achieved and to discuss the benefits of counseling that is provided at the Clinic. A total of twenty-five participants were selected through purposive sampling technique. The methods used in obtaining data for this study included participant and direct observation and interviews. The data was analyzed using qualitative as well as quantitative methods and the information presented in the form of tables and descriptive accounts respectively. Conversely the study used Affective Approaches to counseling. The research findings revealed that counseling had positive influence on the patients as both groups reported more positive tfran negative of the AIDS pandemic. Patients reported that counselors who were my main informants demonstrated knowledge of their work while carrying out counseling and respected" patients privacy and confidentiality. However, patients said that counselors were over burdened with the work which resulted in long waiting time at the clinic. Another finding was that there was a conducive atmosphere provided for counseling and this contributed to the effectiveness of counseling. The study recommended that measures be formulated for training more counselors in order to cope with the increasing numbers of AIDS patients. It also recommended the. restructuring of the counseling process by encouraging peer counseling in order to target youths to visit Clinics. Finally, the study recommended for more Social Science research on a wider area to cover issues on gender roles, religion and culture and how negative it impacts on women since very few women attend Clinic regularly and no Muslim woman attends Clinic.