Full Description
Meet the women behind the statistics!Women's Experiences with HIV/AIDS: Mending Fractured Selves examines the impact of HIV/AIDS on women, the fastest-growing subgroup of the HIV-infected population of the United States. Based on interviews with HIV-infected women, the book gives voice to their experiences. This powerful text offers a firsthand view of what it is like to live day-to-day as a woman with the added burden of HIV/AIDS.Women's Experiences with HIV/AIDS is a powerful and compelling look at the day-to-day struggles of 37 women infected with HIV. Their stories detail their ongoing effortswith varying degrees of successto come to grips with the disease as they try to rebuild their lives. Through qualitative analysis, the book demonstrates the importance of relational resources, such as AIDS activism, support groups, and social support. It also addresses potential problems for women associated with caregiving and presents ethnographic research findings on the complex factors that affect women with HIV (socioeconomic status, sexual preference, lifestyle differences). Women's Experiences with HIV/AIDS also addresses research topics such as:
how HIV infection affects a woman's sense of self
how women repair disruption and restore identities
the limits to women's coping strategies and whether those strategies still work if women become functionally impaired or develop AIDS
how women's structural and social environments facilitate or impede repair
the role of women's informal networks in biological disruption and repair
A rare look at the experience of women infected with HIV (most studies focus on male samples), Women's Experiences with HIV/AIDS is an invaluable academic resource as a course supplement in the fields of medical sociology, women's studies, public health, and community health, and is an enlightening read for everyone interested in HIV/AIDS research.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction
Disruption and Legitimation: Hillary
Problematic Repair Strategies: Denise
Disruption and Nonrepair: Stephanie
HIV/AIDS As a Gender Issue
Analytic Framework: Biographical Disruption and HIV/AIDS
Sample and Methodology
Overview of This Book
Chapter 2. Feeling Like Nothing: Receiving an HIV Diagnosis and Initial Disruption
Biographical Disruption Among Women with HIV/AIDS
Hopelessness
Disbelief
Social Withdrawal
Placing Blame
Putting Oneself Last
Assigning Meaning and Sense of Self
Women and Disruption
Chapter 3. Living with HIV Infection: The Impact of Illness on Everyday Life
Gender and the Psychosocial Impact of HIV Infection
Adaptive Tasks for Women with HIV/AIDS
The Perceived Significance of Gender
Women's Unique Experiences and Needs
Chapter 4. Towards Legitimation: Coping with HIV/AIDS
Coping with HIV/AIDS: A Brief Review of the Literature
Women's Ways of Coping: Repairing Disrupted Biographies
Going Public and Becoming an Activist
Support Groups
Spirituality
Establishing Positive Lifestyles
Avoidance
Legitimation and Sense of Self
Chapter 5. Social Support: The Role of Informal Networks in Women's Lives
Social Support and HIV/AIDS
Familial Support Networks
Problematic Support
Keeping the Secret: Untapped Support Networks and Self-Protection
Social Support and Illness Progression: Speculating on the Likelihood of Future Support
Chapter 6. Women As Carers: The Dual Challenge of Caregiving and Living with HIV Infection
Mothering
Planning for the Future: Child Care and Guardianship
Caring for Adults with HIV/AIDS
The Consequences of Caring
Chapter 7. Multiple Assaults on Self: The Relative Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women's Lives
I'm Used to Being Ate Up Anyway
Nothing Compares to HIV
The Relative Impact of Assaults
Chapter 8. Disruption and Repair: Lessons from Women's Illness Experiences
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Women's Coping
Formal Care and Women with HIV Infection
Empowerment and Social Change
Experiencing Illness: Extending HIV-Positive Women's Experiences to Other Populations
Appendix: Sample Demographic Summary
References
Index
