The HIV-infected mothers may have multiple physical, emotional, and social concerns, including coming to terms with the reality of their own infection while facing uncertainty about the HIV status of their infant. If the child is seropositive the mother usually has difficulty to inform him about his illness.
Who should tell the child's status? (doctor, mother or psychologist)
It will be difficult to have a cut of age for when to give information to HIV infected children about their illness.Key will be to ascertain if they have the capacity to understand and process this information. Information can be given tailored to their age and understanding.
Thank you very much Francis for your answer. Who should tell them their status? (doctor, mother or psychologist).
Ideally it should be someone who has been trained on how to counsel such patient. Proper practice would mean the child had been counselled before the HIV test was done in the first place, so is already being prepared for the outcome of the test.Doctors need training on how to break bad news to patients/parents.It is not advisable for parents to tell children their status.children below the age of consent will need parental support when their status is being revealed to them while older children who have the mental capacity can actually opt to not let their parents or any other person know their status. Hope this helps a little.
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