Living with HIV: a qualitative research

To investigate on consequences of living with HIV/AIDS.

This was a qualitative study. Initially we selected a convenience sample and then narrowed-down the sample by maximum diversity in terms of age and education. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews. All interviews were recorded and transcribed، and the codes were extracted after reviewing them several times. Content analysis was performed to explore the data.

In all 34 participants were interviewed: 32 HIV positive men (with age average: 37. 5 years and standard deviation: 7. 13) and 4 HIV positive women (with age average: 34 years and standard deviation: 3. 04) Participants indicated the following consequences: social، psychological، physical and economic. Most participants referred to adverse social outcome as the most important consequences of living with HIV/AIDS. The most important social adverse effect mentioned by participants was stigma، discrimination and exclusion.

The findings suggest that stigma and discrimination should be lessening for people who live with HIV/AID. Perhaps media could play an important role to achieve this.