Abstract #87  -  Reproductive decision-making and approaching fatherhood following diagnosis of HIV a qualitative study of experience and care in Northern Ireland.
Authors:   Presenting Author:   Ms Carmel Kelly - Queen's University Belfast
Additional Authors:  Dr Fiona Alderdice, Dr Maria Lohan, Dr Dale Spence,
Aim: While still a relatively low seroprevalence region, Northern Ireland has experienced a dramatic increase in new heterosexually acquired HIV diagnoses in recent years. The voice of heterosexual men living with HIV appears to be distinctly absent in the research literature. In particular men who are HIV positive face reproductive dilemmas and have health and social care needs in preparation for fatherhood but their experiences have been habitually neglected. This study, currently in its final year, aims to explore the real life contexts in which men and women, affected by a diagnosis of HIV, make reproductive decisions and their experience of pregnancy, childbirth and the care they receive throughout this journey. Five HIV positive men whose partners were actively trying to conceive, were pregnant or had given birth in the last six months were included in the study.
Method / Issue: The study was designed according to the principles of interpretative qualitative research in order to open up the real life contexts of heterosexual pregnancy and childbirth following an HIV diagnosis. In depth interviews were conducted with the men with a focus on their reproductive desires, fatherhood and the experience of pregnancy care in the context of HIV. For men, whose partners� were currently pregnant, a second interview was conducted in the post natal stage. The analysis will be multi-staged, at first focusing on each individual narrative and biographical transition between the interviews, second, a comparative thematic analysis to identify themes of commonality and difference across the interviews and third an iterative analysis designed to go between emergent experiential themes from the study data and the wider body of work on HIV and masculinity.
Results / Comments: This paper will therefore introduce the study and present some of the interim results providing insights into the experiences of HIV positive fathers. In particular, participants narratives reveal how characteristics, notably gender, ethnicity and the serostatus of partners are interwoven in reproductive decision-making and pregnancy for men who are affected by HIV. In addition, their narratives expose how the symbolic significance of HIV can have a profound influence on how they see themselves and their perceptions of how others, including health care professionals, see them.
Discussion: Reproduction has been defined, culturally, as a woman�s issue. As a consequence, maternity care services tend to be organized around women and the experiences of men are not reflected in the research literature. Parenting a child is a desire for many HIV positive men in many cultures. This study provides insights into their experience and could inform the development of services which meet their information and support needs.
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