Living day by day

We examined the meaning of living with HIV/AIDS among women in Lebanon. Ten women living with HIV/AIDS (WLWHA) described their experiences via semistructured in-depth interviews. They navigated a process of HIV diagnosis acceptance that incorporated six overlapping elements: receiving the news, acce...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mokhbat, Jacques (author)
Other Authors: Field, Emile R. S. (author), El Khoury, Cynthia (author), Kaplan, Rachel L. (author)
Format: article
Published: 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10725/5225
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2333393616650082
http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.php
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2333393616650082
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Summary:We examined the meaning of living with HIV/AIDS among women in Lebanon. Ten women living with HIV/AIDS (WLWHA) described their experiences via semistructured in-depth interviews. They navigated a process of HIV diagnosis acceptance that incorporated six overlapping elements: receiving the news, accessing care, starting treatment, navigating disclosure decisions, negotiating stigma, and maintaining stability. Through these elements, we provide a framework for understanding three major themes that were constructed during data analysis: Stand by my side: Decisions of disclosure; Being “sick” and feeling “normal”: Interacting with self, others, and society; and Living day by day: focusing on the present. We contribute to the existing literature by providing a theoretical framework for understanding the process of diagnosis and sero-status acceptance among WLWHA. This was the first study of its kind to examine the meaning of living with HIV/AIDS among women in a Middle Eastern country.