D.Cur. / The nurses who work in the hospitals are constantly in interaction with the patients. As the HIV infection has now reached the AIDS phase, most people who were infected five to ten years back are now sick due to HIV/AIDS compromised conditions. The statistics inform us that mostly young people are dying. This has reversed nature, in that elders are now burying the youth. The HIV/AIDS infected people who are ill are admitted to general hospitals for health care. At present the patients are cared for in the general wards with other patients who may not be HIV/AIDS infected. In the hospitals they are cared for by the health team, of which the nurses are with these patients for 24 hours a day. This study focused on the interaction between nurses and admitted patients who are HIV/AIDS positive. The patients may have been admitted due to opportunistic diseases or any other illnesses. Most patients with HIV/AIDS suffer from opportunistic diseases, pain and stress. Nurses become aware of the patient’s HIV/AIDS status for health care reasons. Nurses are in most institutions the first contact in health care. Therefore the nurses are engaged in established relationships with patient, families, friends and the community for the purpose of the provision of health care services. These relationships entail interaction. The interaction between the nurse and the patients plays a major role in the care of the patient. This interaction between the nurses and patients entails a number of aspects, such as communication, be it verbal or non-verbal. The latter includes behavioural and affective aspects, such as attitudes, the way care is provided and how the parties feel about the interaction. Nursing is a human interaction. In this interaction the nurse and the patient build a therapeutic relationship, resulting in assistance to facilitate the wellbeing of the patient and rapid recovery. The HIV /Aids infection affects the patient as a whole because of the stigma attached to the disease, therefore the affected patients need to be assisted in order to cope with the illness and its consequences. Therefore the purpose of the study was to: • To explore and describe the nurses’ and patients’ (who are HIV AIDS infected) experience of their interaction. • To develop and describe a model that would assist the nurses to facilitate the promotion of mental health in patients who are HIV/AIDS infected. A theory generation research which is qualitative, descriptive and explorative and contextual in nature was conducted with permission from the Department of Health authorities, hospital authorities, admitted patients with HIV/AIDS, the NGO that looks after the patients in the community after discharge, the nurses who work in the general wards and the University of Johannesburg Ethical and Research committee. Pilot interviews were conducted with one nurse-participant and patientparticipant that met the selection criteria.