Poster Presentation
Wednesday, 19 July 2006
9:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Wednesday, 19 July 2006
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM
This presentation is part of : Poster Presentations I
Exploring the Illness Experience of Persons with HIV/AIDS
Elnora (Nonie) P. Mendias, PhD, RN, FNP, BC, School of Nursing, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA and David P. Paar, MD, School of Medicine, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveson, TX, USA.
Learning Objective #1: Compare study participants’ perceptions of their illness experience, as obtained from narrative and self-report questionnaire data.
Learning Objective #2: Discuss implications of study findings for planning health programs and further research.
As persons with HIV/AIDS live longer, development of strategies to facilitate their positive adaptation to their chronic illness has become critically important to improving clients’ health outcomes, satisfaction, and quality of life. Key to successful strategy development is clear understanding of the illness experience, from the client’s perspective, and use of methodologies that accurately uncover or reflect clients’ experience. Using Pender’s Health Promotion model as a theoretical base, this non-random descriptive study used a blended qualitative/quantitative approach to collect data from eighteen HIV-positive adults living in the community. Data collection included 1) interviews, conducted using a structured interview guide, and 2) completion of self-report instruments, to obtain respondents’ perceptions of their health status, life quality, symptoms, illness intrusiveness, and medication taking. Questionnaire data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics. Narrative data will be analyzed using Miles and Huberman’s data analysis methodology. Themes in narrative data and trends in quantitative data will be presented and compared. In addition to deepening understanding of the lived experiences of study respondents, comparison of narrative and quantitative data will be helpful in planning health education activities, health promotion interventions, and future research.

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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)