AIDS causes disabling symptoms during its chronic and terminal phases. Families throughout the world, whether related to the patient by blood or affection, provide most of the personal care for him or her at home during these phases. Whether the family has access to advanced medical care or not, they can be taught simple comfort measures and nursing care skills that will improve the well-being of the patient. In Rwanda, a small country in east-central Africa, Red Cross volunteers were trained to teach these skills. The volunteers then returned to their villages to help local families. Six months later, 24 of these families were interviewed about the impact of the volunteers' visits. Families indicated they had benefited from being taught the caregiving skills. They also appreciated the emotional support attendant to the volunteers' visits. In summary, the training course enabled volunteers both to enhance family nursing care skills and to provide emotional support to families caring for people with AIDS at home. This training can also be used by volunteers to assist families caring for members ill with other endemic chronic infectious diseases.
PIP: In Rwanda, as in most countries in the Third World, those in the chronic and terminal stages of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are cared for at home. Access to hospitals or home care health personnel is severely limited by shortages of medicines, poverty, poor transportation, and persistent civil unrest. To assist families caring for an AIDS victim, Red Cross volunteers in Rwanda received training in nonpharamcological pain control, personal hygiene, and maintenance of hydration and nutrition. 6 months after the training, 24 families aided by these volunteers were interviewed about the impact of the intervention. The volunteers were also interviewed. All families had a positive response to the support provided by the volunteers, and volunteers expressed enhanced confidence and sense of effectiveness as a result of having concrete skills to offer. The handbook that formed the basis of the training was derived from the collective experience of nurses working in AIDS care in developing countries and is currently being revised on the basis of feedback from the Red Cross volunteers. At the time of the evaluation, the 10 volunteers interviewed had worked with a total of 52 families and made 163 home visits. In addition, the volunteers did community education on the prevention of transmission of the AIDS virus. This particular training program is considered replicable in other areas, as long as adaptations are made to the local culture, social structure, and available resources.