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I have just joined the group and as requested am sending a
short introduction. I am a registered nurse and midwife and am in the process
of qualifying as a clinical psychologist. My Master’s thesis –
still to be completed – is about women’s experience of receiving an
unanticipated HIV diagnosis in an antenatal situation. Prior to returning to full time studying I
was employed as a HIV counsellor – particularly providing support to pregnant
HIV positive women. Many of these women had only found out they were infected
during routine antenatal checkups and for many (in long-term, supposedly
monogamous relationships) the diagnosis was unexpected and particularly devastating.
There wasn’t the opportunity at the time to investigate fully who
particularly had provided the diagnosis, but most said that it was not provided
in an empathetic or containing way. I suspect that anxiety relating to the
process on the part of the service providers is likely to have contributed to
this. I would like to use the information garnered by this initial research to develop
a protocol for providing appropriate and supportive diagnoses within the antenatal
setting, and for use by midwives particularly.
Regards,
Avril Cowlin
Stellenbosch