AEGiS-15IAC: Women living with HIV/AIDS: The psychosocial impact of a diagnosis.

15th International AIDS Conference

Bangkok, Thailand - July 11-16, 2004

Women living with HIV/AIDS: The psychosocial impact of a diagnosis.

Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. D10021)

Gonzalez Pinto AG
Hospital San Juan de Dios, Santiago, Chile

ISSUES: HIV/AIDS's face is every time more feminine and younger, that's why it is important to develop new programs and strategies of intervention which help to treat women from the psychological point of view. HIV/AIDS's diagnosis becomes an impact on women who feel that this notification does not only affect their inner world, but also their outer world.

DESCRIPTION: This research, taking the Operative Group's postulates created by the psychiatrist Enrique Pichon-Riviere in 1958, pretends to know and discover what a group of women, attending a Chilean Public Hospital, feel and think about themselves after the diagnosis. These women talks about their feelings and thoughts with respect to their sexuality, their maternity, and their family, topics that emerge from their discourse and are interpreted according the Operative Group technique.

LESSONS LEARNED: The group work with women is a real instrument to allow them to express their inner world, to share experiences with other women, to accept themselves, to feel they are not alone and to finally eradicate the social stigma which is strongly present in most of the developing countries. Recommendation: This research recommends to promote and encourage the development of group works with women so that they can be active participants in the prevention and transmission of knowledge about HIV/AIDS for the future generations.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Seropositivity, HIV Infections, Developing Countries, Sexual Behavior, Health Planning Guidelines, HIV Seroprevalence, Chile, Humans, Female, diagnosis, organization & administration

040711
D10021