Abstract
Introduction: At the Public Health Center of Chiba City, HIV/AIDS counseling by a clinical psychologist has been conducted since 1993. The contents of counseling are divided into such categories as antibody test counseling (pre-test and post-test), telephone counseling of the general public, HIV carrier/AIDS patient counseling (including family of patients), and local community sponsored psychological education to promote precaution. In this study, we tried to evaluate the necessity and effectiveness of counseling conducted by a clinical psychologist at the antibody test phase.
Methods: The characteristics of 346 counseling cases at the health center were analyzed. In addition, we tried to verify the effectiveness of counseling through interviews.
Results: About 20% of the clients had an exceedingly high level of anxiety. The level declined after counseling on the test day.
Conclusion: It was proved that counseling conducted by a clinical psychologist at the health center has the following effectiveness: (1) Reduces the anxiety level of highly anxious clients, (2) Deals with clients with psychological problems and/or AIDS related neurosis, and (3) Counseling Facilitates a behavioral change in less critical clients.
In the future, it is recommended that clinical psychologists be assigned to public health centers located around the metropolitan areas, so they can conduct counseling.
