TY - JOUR
T1 - Life Lessons from Women with HIV
T2 - Mutuality, Self-Awareness, and Self-Efficacy
AU - Brody, Leslie R.
AU - Jack, Dana C.
AU - Bruck-Segal, Dana L.
AU - Ruffing, Elizabeth G.
AU - Firpo-Perretti, Yudelki M.
AU - Dale, Sannisha K.
AU - Weber, Kathleen M.
AU - Cohen, Mardge H.
N1 - Funding Information:
Data were collected by the Chicago site of the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), which is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Grant U01-AI-34994 (PIs, Dr. Mardge Cohen and Dr. Audrey French) and cofunded by the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Drug Abuse. The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors thank the WIHS participants and WIHS staff, especially Sally Urwin, Cheryl Watson, and Karlene Schowalter, who collected and managed data, and Gwendolyn Kelso and Ruth Cruise who transcribed and coded data.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
PY - 2016/6/1
Y1 - 2016/6/1
N2 - Women with HIV in the United States cope with multiple traumas that influence adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and well-being. Narrative themes from three life turning points and a projective story task were compared for two groups of women with HIV (HIV well-managed vs. HIV not well-managed, matched on demographics and narrative word count) to understand predictors of successful outcomes. The well-managed group (n = 10) was virally suppressed and reported ≥95% ART adherence; the not well-managed group (n = 10) had detectable viral load and reported <95% ART adherence. Women were predominantly African American with low socioeconomic status and averaged 46.51 years. A three-stage coding process (with coders blind to group status in stages 1 and 2) involved (1) line by line thematic analyses that generated 155 subthemes reflecting six content areas (interpersonal relationships; culture and community; sense of self; relationship to past, present, and future experiences; self-care; and motivators for change); (2) absence/presence of the 155 subthemes was compared for the two groups; the frequency of 37 subthemes was found to significantly differ; and (3) the 37 differentiating subthemes were conceptually integrated, revealing that the well-managed group's narratives more frequently reflected (a) mutuality (growth-fostering relationships involving reciprocal care and empathy); (b) self-awareness (recognition of personal strengths and weaknesses and multiple factors contributing to life choices and trajectories); and (c) self-efficacy (active coping, self-advocacy, and utilizing resources). Implications for treatment and interconnections among themes are discussed, emphasizing the factors that enable women to care for themselves and others.
AB - Women with HIV in the United States cope with multiple traumas that influence adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and well-being. Narrative themes from three life turning points and a projective story task were compared for two groups of women with HIV (HIV well-managed vs. HIV not well-managed, matched on demographics and narrative word count) to understand predictors of successful outcomes. The well-managed group (n = 10) was virally suppressed and reported ≥95% ART adherence; the not well-managed group (n = 10) had detectable viral load and reported <95% ART adherence. Women were predominantly African American with low socioeconomic status and averaged 46.51 years. A three-stage coding process (with coders blind to group status in stages 1 and 2) involved (1) line by line thematic analyses that generated 155 subthemes reflecting six content areas (interpersonal relationships; culture and community; sense of self; relationship to past, present, and future experiences; self-care; and motivators for change); (2) absence/presence of the 155 subthemes was compared for the two groups; the frequency of 37 subthemes was found to significantly differ; and (3) the 37 differentiating subthemes were conceptually integrated, revealing that the well-managed group's narratives more frequently reflected (a) mutuality (growth-fostering relationships involving reciprocal care and empathy); (b) self-awareness (recognition of personal strengths and weaknesses and multiple factors contributing to life choices and trajectories); and (c) self-efficacy (active coping, self-advocacy, and utilizing resources). Implications for treatment and interconnections among themes are discussed, emphasizing the factors that enable women to care for themselves and others.
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U2 - 10.1089/apc.2016.0031
DO - 10.1089/apc.2016.0031
M3 - Article
C2 - 27214648
AN - SCOPUS:84974593735
VL - 30
SP - 261
EP - 273
JO - AIDS Patient Care and STDs
JF - AIDS Patient Care and STDs
SN - 1087-2914
IS - 6
ER -