%0 Journal Article
%T ¡°I Live Quite a Good Balanced Life¡±: A Pilot Study on the Life Experiences of Ageing Individuals Living with HIV
%A Nuno Ribeiro Nobre
%A Jari Kylm£¿
%A Tapio Kirsi
%J Nursing Research and Practice
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/128108
%X An ageing population is accompanied by an increased number of older adults living with HIV. So far, our knowledge regarding the life experiences of older adults living with HIV is still poor and under researched. The purpose of this study is to present new knowledge by interviewing nine Finnish HIV-positive individuals of 50 years of age and older. The data were analysed by inductive content analysis. Living with HIV is shaped by unique personal life experiences. These experiences played an important role on how the interviewees assessed their lives and their future as HIV positive individuals. Most of the participants reacted negatively to their HIV-positive diagnosis. However, throughout time they had found meaning in their lives and had developed a degree of positive attitude towards life and future which was articulated in terms of a good overall balanced life. Since caring is the tenor of the nursing profession, nurses should be able to identify and implement methods for assessing how successfully older adults living with HIV age and intervene in an informed way whenever needed. 1. Introduction The number of older adults living with HIV is increasing yearly. National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) [1] surveillance data estimated that by the end of November 2011, 346 individuals aged 50 and older were living with HIV in Finland. This relatively small number of older adults living with HIV will tend to increase in years to come, not only because the population living with HIV gets older but also because the number of new transmissions is increasing among this age group. So far, there is no research-based knowledge regarding to this section of the ageing Finnish population. This study is the first attempt to explore the life experiences of 50+ people living with HIV in Finland. The classification of study participants by age is based on the CDC¡¯s age categorization system, widely used in scientific literature [2]. Older adults living with HIV have been largely invisible in the field of HIV research. They rarely participate in study projects, and when they are included, age is not used as a central variable in the analysis of the data [3]. HIV among older adults is also a neglected issue among health care professionals. On the one hand, these problems entail misdiagnoses as a result of doctors failing to suggest HIV tests to the patients. On the other hand, there are difficulties in recognizing a range of symptoms actually related to the HIV rather than to ageing itself [4¨C6]. Becoming HIV positive is a life changing event [7, 8]. Receiving a
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/nrp/2012/128108/