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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Mental health experiences of older adults living with HIV
— uncertainty, stigma, and approaches to resilience | | Author(s) | Charles Furlotte, Karen Schwartz |
| Journal title | Canadian Journal on Aging, vol 36, no 2, June 2017 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, June 2017 |
| Pages | pp 125-140 |
| Source | http://cambridge.org/cjg |
| Keywords | AIDS ; Ageing process ; Mental health [elderly] ; Adjustment ; Canada. |
| Annotation | This study looked at the mental health experiences of older adults living with HIV in Ottawa, Canada. Eleven participants aged 52 to 67 completed in-depth personal interviews. Mental health concerns pervaded the lives of these older adults. Three central themes common to the participants' stories were identified, namely: uncertainty, stigma and resilience. For some of these participants, uncertainty impacting mental health centred on unexpected survival; interpretation of one's symptoms; and medical uncertainty. Participants' experiences of stigma included discrimination in health care interactions; misinformation; feeling stigmatised due to aspects of their physical appearance; compounded stigma; and anticipated stigma. Participants reported using several coping strategies, which were framed as individual approaches to resilience. These strategies included reducing the space that HIV takes up in one's life; making lifestyle changes to accommodate one's illness; and engaging with social support. These findings inform understandings of services for people ageing with HIV who may experience mental health concerns. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-170728249 A |
| Classmark | CQTT: BG: D: DR: 7S |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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