Lived experiences of Ghanaian women diagnosed with HIV and AIDS

Abstract

Living with HIV and AIDS is a recent worldwide phenomenon known to be a distressing condition causing disruptions in interpersonal relationships between women and their significant others, families and society. This study describes the meaning of living with HIV and AIDS for 16 HIV-positive women using a phenomenological qualitative method. In-depth interviews were conducted with purposively sampled HIV-positive women between March and December 2008. The purpose of the study was to investigate the lived experiences of HIV-positive women and consequently to develop, implement and evaluate a non-government organisation (NGO) based support framework to meet these needs. Tesch's data analysis approach was used to synthesise a description of the women's lived experiences. The findings revealed myths about methods of HIV transmission leading to negative public attitudes including stigmatisation, discrimination, humiliation, blame and rejection resulting in anxiety, suicidal ideations, low self esteem and sleeplessness. HIV-positive women's rights appeared to be often violated and legal aid services were inaccessible due to lack of privacy and confidentiality in court rooms. Parse's Theory of Human Becoming framed the researcher's theoretical perspective. The study concludes by emphasising the need for implementing HIV and AIDS anti-stigma programmes in Ghana.