Psychoeducational groups for young adults with genital herpes: training group facilitators

Genital herpes is one of the sexually transmitted diseases that can have serious long-term psychological and physical consequences for young adults who contract the disease. Because of the chronic, reoccurring nature of genital herpes, these young adults need education about the transmission of the herpes virus and about safer sexual practices in addition to emotional support. Psychoeducational groups have shown to be a nursing intervention that can effectively provide this education and support. Yet community health nurses may not be knowledgeable about or comfortable with using this type of intervention. In this article we explain the process of training community health nurses to be nurse facilitators who conduct psychoeducational groups for young adults with genital herpes. The training consisted of a 1-day workshop and three follow-up sessions. The content and format of this training workshop and the follow-up sessions is presented in addition to recommendations to enhance this nursing intervention.