Marseille 2007
Marseille 2007
Abstract book
Go Back

Abstract #497  -  Living with HIV/AIDS: The healing effect of telling their storyPositive Women from Bombay (India) and Edinburgh (Scotland)
Session:
  26.29: Posters B (Poster) on Tuesday   in  Chaired by
Authors:
  Presenting Author:   Dr Dina Sidhva - Multi Cultural Family Base, United Kingdom
 
  Additional Authors:   
Aim:
While conducting qualitative research on positive women from Bombay and Edinburgh, I was struck by the idea that telling ones story was an empowering experience for them. The experience seems to be particularly important for women living with HIV/AIDS, because it helps them to know they are not alone. Telling a coherent and meaningful story of ones life can have an important impact and reflects the resilience of the women in the face of adversity.
 
Method / Issue:
Through in-depth interviews, twenty-seven positive women described their lives before infection as well as their experiences of HIV diagnosis and its aftermath, from their own perspectives. Interviews were conducted in the native language of the respondent and later translated and subjected to thematic analysis.
 
Results / Comments:
The women were totally engrossed in the act of telling their story, and some endured personal hardship and discomfort in order to participate in the study. Telling their story and being listened to was especially important in the face of the vulnerability these women experienced. A number of the respondents, especially those in Bombay, expressed gratitude for the opportunity to talk to someone about what they had experienced. For women in Bombay, just telling their story seemed to be a cathartic experience, which provided its own reward; whereas for women in Edinburgh, knowing that their stories could hold meaning for others made sharing their experiences worthwhile.
 
Discussion:
This finding provides an important insight into the aspect of communication while working with persons living with HIV/AIDS. Narrating ones life story could be used as a valuable therapeutic tool for bringing about change in the lives of those infected and affected by it. Practitioners, researchers, and policy-makers need to have an awareness of this phenomenon, and the potential it holds as an avenue for supporting those with HIV/AIDS, and also as an area that needs to be better understood. Thus, the power of telling ones story lies in the meaning of the experience, and the very act of telling ones story can be a transforming experience. These stories are also empowering for other women living with HIV/AIDS, because it helps them to know they are not alone. For the positive women in my research, making sense of their complicated and often tragic stories seems to have been an encouraging and ultimately healing experience.
 
Go Back

  Disclaimer   |   T's & C's   |   Copyright Notice    www.AIDSImpact.com www.AIDSImpact.com