Offering reassurance

  • Care needs to be taken when offering advice on HIV transmission to people who are disproportionately anxious.

It is essential for anyone seeking to provide reassurance for HIV/AIDS-related fears (no matter how groundless) to start from an understanding that facts alone (no matter how convincing) may not be enough to assuage such fears. Equally, it is important not to dismiss people with these anxieties as simply the 'worried well'. Such an approach is likely to fail to reassure them.

It may be helpful to put those facts back into the context of the fears they came out of. A five-step guide to presenting the facts is outlined below.

This content was checked for accuracy at the time it was written. It may have been superseded by more recent developments. NAM recommends checking whether this is the most current information when making decisions that may affect your health.