Abstract
D.Cur.
Working with children within a therapeutic relationship requires expert knowledge, expert skills, intuition, feeling and empathy for the child (Weitzman, 2003: 5). Internationally there is a need for the development of creative and effective service delivery models to be implemented by trained play therapists (Weitzman, 2003: 6).
The purpose of the study was to develop a model for the advanced psychiatric nurse practitioner to facilitate the mental health of young children diagnosed with HIV by meeting the following objectives: to explore and describe the life-world of young children diagnosed with HIV; to describe and evaluate a model to facilitate the mental health of young children diagnosed with HIV; and to describe guidelines for the implementation of the model.