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Women, Motherhood, and Living Positively: The Lived Experience of Thai Women Living with HIV/AIDS

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Women, Motherhood and Living with HIV/AIDS

Abstract

Living with an incurable illness such as HIV/AIDS is a stressful experience. However, many HIV-positive individuals are able to maintain their emotional well-being. This begs the question of what strategies these individuals employ to allow them to do so. In this chapter, we examine how Thai women who are mothers and living with HIV/AIDS dealt with the illness. In-depth interviews were conducted with 26 women in central Thailand. The women adopted several strategies to deal with their HIV status including taking care of own self, accepting one’s own faith, disclosing their HIV status to family, and joining AIDS support groups. These strategies can be situated within the “living positively” discourse which helps to create a sense of optimism to combat the HIV epidemic among the women. Additionally, the acceptance of their HIV status plays an essential role in the meaning-making process because it assists the women to sustain the equilibrium of their emotional well-being.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University, who provided a research grant to enable this study. An earlier version of this chapter was published in Qualitative Health Research (2011). We thank Sage for giving a permission to include this chapter in this book.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Kingsbury Drive, Bundoora, VIC, 3086, Australia

    Pranee Liamputtong

  2. Faculty of Public Health, Thammasat University, Rangsit Road, Rangsit, Patoomthani, 12121, Thailand

    Niphattra Haritavorn

  3. Social Research Institute (CUSRI), Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Niyada Kiatying-Angsulee

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  1. Pranee Liamputtong
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  2. Niphattra Haritavorn
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  3. Niyada Kiatying-Angsulee
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Correspondence to Pranee Liamputtong .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, La Trobe University School of Public Health, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

    Pranee Liamputtong

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Liamputtong, P., Haritavorn, N., Kiatying-Angsulee, N. (2013). Women, Motherhood, and Living Positively: The Lived Experience of Thai Women Living with HIV/AIDS. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Women, Motherhood and Living with HIV/AIDS. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5887-2_15

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