A question of prejudice. Stigma, homosexuality and HIV/AIDS

1. Nurses will, in the future, be faced with caring for a growing number of people with HIV and Aids, including both heterosexual and homosexual patients. 2. People infected with HIV may remain asymptomatic for long periods, and are capable of transmitting the virus. 3. Our value and belief systems may not be the same as our patients' and clients', so there is a potential for us to impose our values and beliefs on clients with harmful outcomes. 4. More empirical research into the harmful effects of stigmatisation is needed, to support the numerous anecdotal accounts mentioned here. 5. Methods of enhancing this client group's healthcare needs should begin with nurse educationists, who also need to question and confront their own value and belief systems.