Emotional support needs of gay males with AIDS

Twenty-five gay and three bisexual males with AIDS (PWAs) rated their needs for four different kinds of emotional support (expressing love and concern, expressing encouragement and positive feedback, serving as a confidant, and providing a philosophical or spiritual perspective) from five different support providers (parents, partners, friends, HIV-positive friends and physicians). Findings support the importance of emotional support for this population. The results indicate that differences exist depending on type and provider of support. Participants expressed the greatest need for every category of emotional support from partners. Participants also rated their needs from physicians highly for each category of emotional support. Noticeably low was the need for providers to offer philosophical or spiritual perspectives.