Sociological analysis of lived experience of women infected with AIDS (qualitative study in Tehran)

Nowadays, HIV/AIDS is not known only as a disease and its carrier as a patient.
Whereas transmission ways of this disease are mostly related to deviant behavior of man (intravenous drug, illicit sexual relations etc.), various negative attitudes and labels were founded for this disease and infected people have been hallmarked as deviants and are rejected by the society. In this thesis, the effect of this disease and its hallmark on lived experience of women infected there with and problems they encounter in connection to this disease, is analyzed. Data was collected using qualitative method and semi-structured interview to HIV women (Values Restoration Society and Health Center of West Tehran). This study focused on psychological, social, protective, communication and health factors of these women.
According to the provided observations and interviews and analyses in open and pivotal coding, four topics including “negative thoughts and attitudes existing in the society” , “specific disease transmission ways” , “general lack of knowledge on disease transmission ways” , “lack of protection and rejection by the family and relatives” were extracted as causal condition of “fear from hallmark” that was introduced as dominant phenomena in observations and interviews. In addition, according to the intervening conditions arising out of social and cultural factors of society and mental patterns of patients along with underlying conditions caused these patients to adopt strategies that each one of these behavioral strategies not only to be transformed to the other one due to the effect of intervening factors, but each one have specific consequences for the patients that causes these women to have a lived experience different from other women.