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1 results

  • Mental Health Experiences of Older Adults Living with HIV: Uncertainty, Stigma, and Approaches to Resilience

  • Charles Furlotte, Karen Schwartz
  • Journal:
    Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement / Volume 36 / Issue 2 / June 2017
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    28 March 2017, pp. 125-140
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  • This study describes the mental health experiences of older adults living with HIV in Ottawa. Eleven participants aged 52 to 67 completed in-depth personal interviews. Mental health concerns pervaded the lives of these older adults. We identified three central themes common to the participants’ stories: 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 stigmatized due to aspects of their physical appearance; compounded stigma; and anticipated stigma. Participants reported using several coping strategies, which we frame as individual approaches to resilience. These strategies include 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 aging with HIV who may experience mental health concerns.