Affiliations: Department of Occupational Therapy, Royal North
Shore Hospital, Northern Sydney Area Health Service, Sydney, NSW,
Australia
Note: [] Level 3, Vindin House, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards,
NSW, 2065, Australia. Tel.: +61 2 9926 6767; Fax: +61 2 9926 6710; E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: As treatments and therapies develop and improve, enhancing life
expectancy, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been described by some as a
long term chronic condition rather than an acute life threatening illness. As
this change occurs, new issues become relevant for the person living with HIV,
employment being one of these. In light of this, the Positive Employment
Service was developed and implemented to explore and address some of the issues
related to employment for people living with HIV. The original concept for the
service was primarily focused on vocational rehabilitation; however, it soon
became clear that there was a need for a prevocational service facilitating
transition and adjustment to productivity roles. The service was developed
using approaches from Vocational and Occupational Therapy Models of Practice.
This article discusses the challenges of developing and implementing this
service and explores the unique perspective that occupational therapy brings to
a position of this kind.
Keywords: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), prevocational, quality of life, vocational rehabilitation
