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[HIV-positive mothers: perceptions about the severity of the infection]

Lis Aparecida de Souza Neves1, Elucir Gir

  • 1Programa Municipal de DST/Aids de Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil. lisapneves@yahoo.com.br

Revista Da Escola De Enfermagem Da U S P
|January 16, 2008
PubMed

The complexity of AIDS involves not just the cognitive side of knowledge, but also the psychosocial factors that influence the behavior of individuals. The objective of this study was to identify the perceptions of HIV-positive mothers concerning the severity of the infection. This is a qualitative study for which were interviewed 14 seropositive mothers who bore a child in the year of 2004. To analyze the data the authors used the Analysis of Content and Health Belief Model. The categories that emerged from the data - not to think about the illness and fear of death - reflect the current phase of the epidemic, in which the introduction of medicines has turned AIDS into a chronic illness while fear is still present because the association between the disease and death persists in popular representations. Knowing mothers' perceptions concerning the illness may give health professionals better understanding of these women's behavior.

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