從愛滋社工者的工作經驗初探“部分社工者不願提供服務給愛滋感染者或病患”之現象

Investigating Some Social Workers' Unwillingness to Provide Services for People Living with HIV/AIDS Based on HIV/AIDS Social Workers' Work Experiences

文獻顯示，部份社工者沒有意願為「假想的」愛滋感染者或病患提供服務；但卻沒人詢問：「真的有社工者在面對前來機構尋求專業服務的愛滋感染者或病患時，會不願提供服務嗎？」這是本研究立基的主要問題意識。為回答這問題，研究者從民國94年10月到11月，在台北、台中、高雄三地，邀請18位在愛滋病房或愛滋防治機構工作的社工者，參與四次焦點團體討論。比例頗高的受訪者曾親身目睹其他領域社工者拒絕提供服務給愛滋感染者或病患，不過這狀況似乎已在逐漸改善中。本研究發現，影響部分社工者沒意願提供服務的因素可分為：社會因素、個人因素、機構因素，其中「機構因素」在過去文獻中未曾被明顯提及；而社會因素中的「家人反對」、「法定傳染病」、及個人因素中「不知如何服務愛滋感染者」也是在過去文獻中未曾被明顯提及。在面對不願提供服務給愛滋感染者或病患的社工者時，愛滋社工者們曾使用過的策略包括：「立即溝通與教育」、「事後提供愛滋相關資訊」、「不主動提及病名」、「當下尋覓其他資源」、「持續開發與接觸潛在友善資源」等。本文最後提出相關議題討論，以及建議。

The literature shows that some social workers are unwilling to work with people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). However, it is doubtful whether the social workers who expressed their unwillingness on surveys would still reject working with PLWHA clients who asked for professional assistance. This is the main research question to be explored in this paper. To answer the question, researchers invited 18 social workers in HIV/AIDS organizations or hospitals to join four focus-group discussions in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung from October to November 2005. Many social workers in this study had witnessed some social workers' unwillingness to work with PLWHA, although the situation has been improving slowly. 'Social, institutional, or individual factors' were suggested to explain why some social workers were unwilling to work with PLWHA. Some possible reasons have not been mentioned in the literature, such as institutional factors, relatives' objection, not knowing how to work with PLWHA, and HIV/AIDS is a compulsorily reported transferred disease. The paper discusses the implications of these findings and offers suggestions for social work education and practice.