The efficacy of a scientific and ethnographic research design for evaluating AIDS group counselling

Abstract

This paper reports a study ofgroup counselling for people who are HIV + based upon a scientific and ethnographic research methodology. The group counselling was underpinned by a unijied theory, appropriate for counselling in the HIV'AIDS context. Counselling sessions lasted for six months and were evaluated by quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis used standardized psychological measurement on a pre- and post-test design. The qualitative analysis was based upon triangulation and respondent validation using video recordings of the counselling sessions, viewed by a research team and then corroborated by the members of the counselled group. The two methods of analysis confirmed that group counselling is a therapeutic intervention for this group of people.