Code of Practice for Psycho-Social Practitioners - PANCAP- Pan ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Introduction HIV & AIDS in the Caribbean - Brief Issues The first case of HIV & AIDS was isolated in Jamaica in 1982. In that same year cases were isolated in Trinidad and Tobago, The Dominican Republic and The Bahamas. By the early nineties, the Caribbean had become the region with the second largest prevalence rate after sub-Saharan Africa. From then to now AIDS cases have climbed steadily in the Caribbean – with reported cases from every Caribbean territory. The countries in the region which are the main contributors to this high rate include Haiti, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Additionally it is important to note that the rates in the smaller territories are viewed by epidemiologists as being too high for their population size. Because the early years underscored the fact that there was no cure for AIDS, education was seen as the key to prevention. Caribbean countries and territories developed comprehensive national responses focusing on prevention education. In the year 2000, the health benefits of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ARV) were recognized and Caribbean countries began to focus on increasing access to these medications. The World Health Organization’s initiative to put three (3) million people worldwide on Anti Retroviral therapy by the year 2005, accelerated the issue of access to treatment in the Caribbean, and precipitated the very important process of HIV & AIDS care in the sub-region. The Caribbean has since adopted the programme of universal access, along with prevention of mother-to-child transmission interventions and the scale up of voluntary counselling and testing sites in order to forecast HIV & AIDS numbers and to begin the preparation of AIDS cases for uptake of ARV. Throughout the years a number of professionals and lay persons have been trained at regional and national levels to provide counselling and support on the many issues raised by HIV & AIDS. While the exact numbers are not known there are hundreds of persons throughout the region who have received such training. They include peer counsellors, prevention counsellors, adherence counsellors, Prevention of Mother to 7
Child Transmission (PMTCT) counsellors and Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) counsellors to name a few. Many of these persons are health care providers, especially nurses, with additional volunteer support from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and Faith Based Organizations (FBOs). They are supported by several professionally trained social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists in both the public as well as the private health care system. This eclectic group of providers is the group which consistently intervenes on psycho-social issues on behalf of Persons Living with HIV & AIDS (PLWHA), their families and other vulnerable populations. For the purpose of this code of practice, these individuals comprise the group hitherto referred as Psycho-Social Practitioners (PSP). This code of practice acknowledges and supports the efforts of this committed and diversely trained group. Rationale Counsellors, Social Workers, Psychologists and Psychiatrists have key roles to play in the response to the HIV & AIDS epidemic. They directly support individual behaviour and through the design development and implementation of community programs (in response to the epidemic), group and societal support is also achieved. Psycho-Social Practitioners also work towards establishing enabling policy environments which give right to access to services for persons infected and affected by HIV & AIDS. With such an important role to be played by this group of persons, professional standards and practice is critical to the quality of care available to communities across jurisdictions. As a region, the Caribbean, though supporting individual national response efforts, has also encouraged a regional approach through the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework (CRSF) 2002 – 2006 which has expanded knowledge, enhanced competencies, mobilized and maximized resources 8
Page 2 and 3: Regional Model Code of Practice for
Page 4 and 5: TABLE OF CONTENTS Acronyms 4 Prefac
Page 6 and 7: PREFACE Challenges of Psychosocial
Page 10 and 11: and has through its collective resp
Page 12 and 13: y the behaviours of service provide
Page 14 and 15: Training Standardized training woul
Page 16 and 17: Special Populations While these are
Page 18 and 19: Signing on to the Code of Practice
Page 20 and 21: 1.1 Principle A: Ensuring Well Bein
Page 22 and 23: 1.5 Principle E: Promoting Human Ri
Page 24 and 25: 2.3 Harassment 2.3.1 PSP will not e
Page 26 and 27: 2.7.3 Informed Consent Clients must
Page 28 and 29: Disclosure without consent should o
Page 30 and 31: In the case of group interventions,
Page 32 and 33: COUNTRY NAME & AREA OF TRAINING AND
Page 34 and 35: Francis Thomas Hope Pals Network Be
Page 36 and 37: TRINIDAD & TOBAGO U.S.A. Regional F
Page 38: Printed by Cole’s Printery Limite

Code of Practice for Psycho-Social Practitioners - PANCAP- Pan ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?