Becoming a person with HIV: experiences of Cambodian women infected by their spouses.
We conducted an interpretive phenomenological investigation in order to understand, within a Cambodian sociocultural context, the lived experiences of women infected with HIV by their husbands as they navigated the tasks of discovering, disclosing and dealing with the diagnosis. Using an open-ended interview protocol and an interpretive phenomenological approach, data were analysed from 15 women (aged 28-42 years) who self-identified the HIV transmission as coming from their spouses. Using qualitative inductive analysis, we were able to identify three main themes: (1) finding oneself to be HIV-positive, (2) encountering HIV--accepting an unwelcomed guest and (3) going public--dealing with the fear of discrimination. Participants consistently delayed testing for HIV and, after receiving an HIV-positive diagnosis, had to deal with painful emotions and discrimination within their social network. The complexity of gender roles and the sociocultural status of the women acted as behavioural determinants of their responses to HIV transmission from their spouses.
a School of Nursing , Research Institute of Nursing Science, Chonbuk National University , Jeonju , Republic of Korea.
Youngran
Y
Yang
b College of Nursing , Seattle University , Seattle , USA.
Danuta
D
Wojnar
c School of Nursing , University of Washington , Seattle , USA.
Frances Marcus
FM
Lewis
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002160:Cambodia; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003469:Culture; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008393:Marriage; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012424:Rural Population; D063508:Social Discrimination / Q000523:psychology; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology
Cambodia; HIV transmission; lived experience; marriage; women