National Association of Social Workers

Practice, Research Evolve With Epidemic

Profession, NASW Keep Pace With HIV/AIDS Changes

The focus now is not so much on dying, but on living with the disease.

By Lyn Stoesen, News Staff

Illustration: John Michael Yanson

Ten years ago, social workers working in the HIV/AIDS field were grappling with a suddenly changing epidemic. While HIV had been recognized for more than a decade by that point, new medication and treatments were beginning to make a dramatic impact on survival and quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Social workers had been at the forefront of responding to AIDS since it first appeared in the early 1980s. But by the mid-1990s, a more comprehensive approach, focusing on training social workers to respond to the crisis with the most effective practices and the most current data, was needed. The HIV/AIDS Spectrum Project was born.

Task force. NASW had addressed HIV/AIDS issues in the 1980s, including a report given to the National Institute of Mental Health and a publication, "AIDS: We Need to Know. We Need to Care."

As the epidemic continued to expand and change, NASW formed a National Task Force on HIV/AIDS. The task force had conducted a survey in 1992 and 1993 to assess the degree of social workers' comfort working with clients with HIV/AIDS, to find out what areas of knowledge were lacking and to explore ways to improve the social work response to HIV. The survey found that "only half [of respondents] agree[d] that they are prepared to counsel clients about HIV prevention and risk-reduction practices."

The HIV/AIDS Spectrum Project: Mental Health Training and Education of Social Workers was formed in 1995, growing out of recommendations issued by the task force. "This project was an outgrowth of advocacy and leadership to implement the findings of that task force," explained Spectrum Project staff Evelyn Tomaszewski. Since its inception, the project has been funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS).

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From May 2005 NASW News. © 2005 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved. NASW News articles may be copied for personal use, but proper notice of copyright and credit to the NASW News must appear on all copies made. This permission does not apply to reproduction for advertising, promotion, resale, or other commercial purposes.