Bloom F; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1996 Jul 7-12; 11: 239 (abstract no. Tu.B.541).
Center for AIDS Intervention Research (CAIR), Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA. Fax: 414-765-8823. E-mail: frb@post.its.mcw.edu.
Objective: To understand how a sample of gay men living with HIV infection evaluate and work to preserve or improve the quality of their lives. Methods: Ethnographic observations and in-depth life story interviews were obtained from twenty Anglo-American gay men attending an HIV clinic. A meaning-centered anthropological approach was used to analyze data by identifying recurrent, common and salient psychocultural themes presented in life story narratives. Thematic analysis was enhanced by identifying additional aspects of life story narratives, such as stylistic orientation (style) to approaching life after diagnosis with HIV infection. Themes, styles and other aspects of the life story were examined for implicit and explicit reference to perceptions of quality of life. Results: Analysis of the data resulted in identification of themes which include: 1) overcoming obstacles and enduring hardships, 2) reciprocity in helping and caring for others, 3) a heightened awareness and appreciation of life as a direct result of becoming HIV-positive, and 4) maintaining a life that is uneventful, stable and essentially unchanged despite infection with HIV. Each theme defines a stylistic orientation to approaching life after entry into the HIV spectrum. Life story analyses indicate that the degree of synchrony with culturally-mediated expectations of the life course is a pivotal factor affecting perceived quality of life. Conclusions: Perceived quality of life is given meaning through the context of a life that is expressed through narratives of the recollected past, the present, and future expectations. Narratives of these life stories reveal how the men participating in this research evaluate and work to preserve or improve the quality of their lives. Study participants evaluate their quality of life in terms of the synchrony of everyday life events and experiences with culturally-mediated expectations, core cultural values, themes, styles and other facets of the life story. These men work to integrate HIV-related events and experience into their ongoing life story as a means of maintaining or improving their quality of life.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Autobiography
- HIV
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- Homosexuality
- Homosexuality, Male
- Humans
- Life
- Male
- Quality of Life
- Social Behavior
Other ID:
UI: 102217986
From Meeting Abstracts