International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

search-icon

Buttoned the Unbuttoned: Brief Insights from People Living with HIV/AIDS and their Caregivers

Open access
The number of people infected with HIV continues to increase globally, despite recent advances in treatment and prevention. Statistics show that an estimated 36.9 million people around the world were living with HIV in 2014, with 2 million people became infected with the illness (UNAIDS, 2014). To aggravate matters, people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) continue to face many forms of stigmatization throughout their lives, despite the various measures or initiatives taken by themselves and others to minimize them. However, little has been done on examining the creation of newly invented identities as an equally important measure/initiative taken by PLWHA and caregivers, to lessen stigmatization and to gain the support that they direly needed. Moreover, little is known about the awareness of human rights among PLWHA and their caregivers. Using ethnographic methods to collect data in the form of face-to-face interviews and participant observations, the proposed study explores the newly invented identities created by PLWHAs and their caregivers, how they develop and express them, and the ways in which they integrate human rights awareness into the creation of these identities. Approximately 13 (N13) PLWHAs and caregivers mainly from the Kuching area were purposively selected. Findings revealed that, participants developed certain initiatives to reduce stigma; and they also portrayed low level of knowledge related to their rights. The outcomes were then translated into stigma reduction initiatives in which these initiatives can be deployed to minimize stigmatization and gain social support that are direly needed. This indirectly, tightened their rights for better living. The study also suggests some modifications in existing policies and programs both at local and national level so that to improve their quality of life in general.
Apinundecha, C., Laohasiriwong, W., Cameron, M. P., & Lim, S. (2007). Community participation intervention to reduce HIV/AIDS stigma, Nakhon Ratchasima provinve, northeast Thailand. AIDS Care, 19(9), 1157-1165.
del Aguila, E. V. (2014). Being a man in a transnational world: The masculinity and sexuality of migration. New York, NY: Routledge.
Calin, T. (2005). Disclosure of HIV among black African men and women attending a London HIV clinics (Doctoral dissertation). Royal Holloway University of London, Egham.
Dorsey, S., Klein, K. and Forehand, R. (1999). Parenting self-efficacy of HIV-infected mothers: The role of social support. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61(2), 295-305.
Farotimi, A. A., Nwozichi, C. U., & Ojediran, T. D. (2015). Knowledge, attitude, and practice of HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination reduction among nursing students in southwest Nigeria. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, 20(6), 705-711.
Feist-Price, S. (2003). Children with HIV: An intensive review of the literature (Social and psychological aspects of caring of HIV patients). Academic Exchange Quarterly (March).
Jerome, C. (2013). Queer Malay identity formation. Indonesia and the Malay World, 41(119), 97-115.
Joslin, D. (Ed.) (2002). Invisible caregivers: Older adults raising children in the wake of HIV/AIDS. New York: Columbia University Press.
Judgeo, N., & Moalusi, K. P. (2014). My secret: The social meaning of HIV/AIDS stigma. SAHARA J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, 11(1), 76-83.
Kearney, J., & Donovan, C. (2013). Constructing risky identities in policy and practice. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mukolo, A., Torres, I., Bechtel. R. M., Sidat, M., & Vergara, A. E. (2013). Consensus on context specific strategies for reducing the stigma of immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in Zambezia Province, Mozambique. SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, 10(3-4), 119-130.
Nagata, J. (1974). What is a Malay? Situational selection of ethnic identity is a plural society. American Ethnologist, 1(2), 331-350.
Seidman, S. (2002). Beyond the closet: The transformation of gay and lesbian life. New York, NY: Routledge.
Sonn, C. C., Bishop, B. J. and Drew, N. M. (1999). Sense of community: Issues and considerations from a cross-cultural perspective. Community, Work and Family, 2(2), 205-218.
Wong, L. P., & Nur Syuhada, A. R. (2011). Stigmatization and discrimination towards people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS by the general public in Malaysia. Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, 42(5), 11190-1129.
Zamri, H. (2010). Developing online social support in Malaysia: Social networks and social relationships among caregivers of People Living with HIV/AIDS (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Royal Holloway University of London, Egham.
Zamri, H. (2011). New relationship? Not so much: Relationship maintenance strategies among caregivers of People Living with HIV/AIDS. Faculty Working Paper series, No 47, February 2011.
Zamri, H. (2016). Stigma reduction initiatives: caregivers of multi faces. Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 26(2-3), 152-166.
In-Text Citation: (Hassan, Nordin, & Jerome, 2018)
To Cite this Article: Hassan, Z., Nordin, Z. S., & Jerome, C. (2018). Buttoned the Unbuttoned: Brief Insights from People Living with HIV/AIDS and their Caregivers. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(14), 148–157.