PFP Project

Making Positive Changes

Making Positive Changes, launched in February 2004, promotes family well-being through a series of psychoeducational group sessions with HIV-infected parents. Funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health through the AIDS Office of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Making Positive Changes program emphasizes 1) parent self-care and 2) parenting skill development and maintenance. In the first session, parents learn about goal-setting and set goals for self-care and parenting, which are reviewed each week.

Each three hour session is guided by a topic, either parenting (family communication, managing children’s behavior) or self-care (stress management, knowing your rights). Although HIV is not integral to all of the topics, the impact of HIV on the parents and children is discussed in each session. Consumer involvement is a key component of the Making Positive Changes Program. Parents with HIV/AIDS are peer facilitators at all sessions and are the recruiters for new families coming into the program. An Advisory Board of parents with HIV and HIV service providers meets 2-3 times annually.