Experiences and Attitudes of People with HIV/AIDS: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies.

Tomás Arias-Colmenero,Mª Ángeles Pérez-Morente,Antonio Jesús Ramos-Morcillo,César Hueso-Montoro,María Ruzafa-Martínez,Concepción Capilla-Díaz

doi:10.3390/ijerph17020639

Abstract

The aim of this article was to explore the experiences and attitudes of people with HIV/AIDS. A systematic review of qualitative studies was carried out. Twenty-seven articles were included, with sample sizes ranging from 3 to 78. Articles from North America, South America, Central America, Europe, and Africa were included. Five topics emerged from the synthesis: feelings about the diagnosis of HIV/AIDS; stigma and HIV/AIDS; changes in sexual behavior after becoming infected; living with the virus; and pregnancy and motherhood in seropositive women. The moment of diagnosis is of vital importance for these people due to feelings such as disappointment, sadness, fear, despair, lack of awareness, and pain. Social support is highly valued among these people and is linked to an improvement in these peoples’ quality of life. Different kinds of stigma accompany people with HIV/AIDS throughout their life, like social stigma, self-stigma, and health professionals’ stigma. Seropositive women who decide to become mothers can feel frustration because they cannot breastfeed. Spirituality helps some people to deal with the fact of being a virus or disease carrier.

Highlights

HIV is one of the main problems with regard to public health, with greater representation in developing countries [1]
We selected original articles oriented to qualitative methodologies, whose interest of study was to explore the perspective of people with HIV/AIDS
This research focused on analyzing the experiences and attitudes of people who live with HIV/AIDS, based on a wide review that includes works from several countries, with representation in North America, South America, Central America, Europe and Africa

Summary

Introduction

HIV is one of the main problems with regard to public health, with greater representation in developing countries [1]. Amongst the population with HIV, 54% of adults and 43%. Being seropositive or having the disease tends to occur in several stages, among which are: the stage of diagnosis, where the person is normally in shock; and the stage of acceptance (positive adaptation) or denial (negative adaptation) [3]. From the beginning of the disease, when it was labelled the so-called “gay-syndrome”, it was characterized by a huge burden of discrimination [4]. This stigma is a negative element that limits the individual’s adaptation to the disease/seropositivity, as well as complicating the management and treatment of the disease; it creates difficulties in the relationship with the population in general, and with health care professionals [5]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion