Amsterdam 2015
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| Abstract #2042 - Psychological dimensions | ||||
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Session: 12.3: Psychological dimensions (Oral poster discussion) on Wednesday @ 13.30-14.30 in Poster room 1 Chaired by Shilpa Zacharia Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Poul Rohleder - University of East London, United Kingdom |
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| Additional Authors: | ||||
| Aim: The potential impact of living with HIV on a person’s mental health and wellbeing is increasingly highlighted. Sexual health is also an important part of wellbeing. However, much of the work on sexual health and HIV has tended to be on safe sex and prevention of transmission. Less attention has been given to positive sexual sexual-esteem. This study aimed to explore sexual self-esteem among a sample of men living with HIV in England. | ||||
| Method / Issue: The study employed a qualitative design, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a method of analysing data. IPA operates at a case study level of analysis, so as to explore a person’s subjective experience. A sample of seven men were recruited through two HIV-related organisations – one in London and one in the East of England. The men were interviewed about their lived experience of living with HIV and the impact this has had on their sense of self as a sexual person. The sample included men who self-identified as gay and as heterosexual. | ||||
| Results / Comments: The results reveal a significant amount of anxiety and worry about sex and identity that impact on the men’s sexual self-esteem. Five interconnecting themes were identified: the ‘destruction’ of a sexual self feeling sexually hazardous sexual inhibition reclaiming a sexual self finding a place through sero-sorting. The results suggest that for all participants, there was a sense of loss around their sexual life, with a real struggle (both current and in the past) to reclaim a (new) sexual identity. | ||||
| Discussion: Advances in medical treatment has contributed to the ‘normalizaton’ of HIV. However, this obscures the experiences of stigma that many people living with HIV continue to face. When it comes to HIV prevention and care, most of the emphasis has been on promoting safe sex behaviour. This is important and necessary, but there is a lack of focus on good sex, as opposed to just safe sex. Psychological interventions that support people living with HIV to live positively should not only address mental health, but need to focus on issues of sexual self-esteem too. | ||||
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