title: Tolerating reality: the experience of parents of HIV positive sons.
abstract: In this study, the experience of parents as they discover that their son is HIV+ or has AIDS, witness their deterioration and death, is described. Using the methods of grounded theory, 13 parents (8 mothers and 5 fathers) were interviewed and a model depicting the basic social psychological process (BSSP), keeping reality at a tolerable level, was developed. Six stages of tolerating reality are: Suspecting, Taking it in, Going along with the changed reality, Being swept along with symptoms, Beating down the denial, and learning to live with it. Parents engaged in a number of strategies aimed at keeping reality at a tolerable level, so they could function in their 'comfort zone' and cope with day-to-day horror, fear and uncertainty while attending to their son.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Alberta Hospitals, Edmonton.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Siegl
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Morse
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001601:Bereavement; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations