The burden of care of gay male carers caring for men living with HIV/AIDS.
OBJECTIVE
The notion of caregiver 'burden' has been used as a term that refers to the financial, physical and emotional effects of caring. This Australian 2002 research investigated the caregiver burden of HIV/AIDS on the gay male carers of gay men with the disease.


METHODS
This study was a phenomenological inquiry and employed van Manen's approach to content analysis. Data saturation occurred at twelve participants.


RESULTS
The findings produced carer themes relating to coping with the burden of care of a person living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the context of living day-to-day with HIV/AIDS, coping with the last phase of AIDS toward death, saying goodbye and remembrance.


CONCLUSIONS
Allocating resources to gay male carers such as; education, respite care, family therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to address grief and stigma issues, has implications for how health services might reduce the burden of care for these carers.
Munro
Ian
I
Facility of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science School of Nursing (Peninsula Campus), Monash University, Victoria, Australia. ian.munro@med.monash.edu.au
Edward
Karen-Leigh
KL
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004645:Empathy; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012918:Social Alienation; D012933:Social Identification; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014739:Victoria