A History of AIDS Social Work in Hospitals: A Daring Response to an Epidemic

Explore the in-hospital evolution of social work with HIV/AIDS patients

A History of AIDS Social Work in Hospitals: A Daring Response to an Epidemic presents first-hand historical perspectives from frontline hospital social workers who cared for HIV/AIDS patients during the epidemic's beginning in the early 1980s. Contributors recount personal and clinical experiences with patients, families, significant others, bureaucracies, and systems during a time of fear, challenge, and extreme caution. Their experiences illustrate the transformation of social work as the development of new programs and treatments increased the lifespan of HIV/AIDS patients.

A History of AIDS Social Work in Hospitals portrays the nature of human suffering and teaches how clients deal with adversity and overcome devastating obstacles. At the same time this book, which, while nonfiction, reads like a novel, opens a window into the world of social work providers working with an illness once considered taboo (and now referred to as simply "chronic").

A History of AIDS Social Work in Hospitals provides you with an easy-to-understand medical overview of adult and pediatric infectious diseases that often accompany HIV/AIDS and examines:

• the evolution of social work with hospitalized patients during the first twenty years of the pandemic
  
• the important roles of social workers in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and South Carolina
  
• challenges that resulted from improved medications and longer life expectancy
  
• the status of current HIV/AIDS care programs
  
• the development of HIV/AIDS case management in emergency room settings
  
• the benefits of developing custody planning programs for HIV-infected families
  
• the challenges of working with perinatally infected adolescents

With case studies and thoughtful analysis of the history of city, state, and national case management responses to the AIDS crisis, A History of AIDS Social Work in Hospitals is a valuable book for educators, students, historians, beginning mental health practitioners, social workers, case managers, substance abuse counselors, and anyone interested in stories of human courage. Make it part of your collection today