Nurses' role in supporting people who are HIV positive

This is the second of two papers which report the results of a research study of the psychological and emotional needs of people with HIV disease and how nurses might best offer support. This paper discusses the nurse's role in offering psychological and emotional support to patients. Inductive analysis of in-depth interviews with in-patients and their nurses revealed four aspects of the nursing role that were highly valued: nurses being caring; acting therapeutically; assessing and monitoring patients' changing needs for emotional support; and acting as educators.