The Interface between the Family and the Health Care System in the Care of People with HIV/AIDS

Abstract

Family care experiences of caregivers and care receivers in the context of HIV/AIDS were studied in Mumbai, India, following van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Data were gathered through conversational interviews and were subjected to holistic and highlighting thematic analyses. The findings underscore that interactions with the formal health care system contributed to the essential meaning of participants’ experiences even though the context of care was primarily familial. These interactions included instances of violations of testing and confidentiality guidelines and refusals to provide treatment in private, and some public health centres and the provision of instrumental and affective support by the voluntary sector. The poor quality of care in public sector hospitals serving HIV positive individuals was also described.