Life in the Shadows: Examining the Role that HIV Status Plays in the Decision Making Processes of HIV Positive Aboriginal Women in Terms of Their Reproductive Health and Their Decisions to Have a Child or Not
Abstract
This thesis represents a qualitative research study involving three urban dwelling, HIV positive Aboriginal women. It highlights the factors that participants describe as being influential in their decision to have a child or not, given positive HIV status. In depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants and descriptive construction of emerging themes and categories were developed to explain the results. Key factors that were found to influence participant’s decisions to have a child or not were: intention; fertility options; stigma; fear; social support; personal health status; spirituality; and cultural safety. This study also found that an analysis of the role HIV status plays in the decision making processes of HIV positive Aboriginal women with regards to whether or not to have a child must take into account how colonization, systematic discrimination, racism, early childhood and adolescent experiences, poverty, addictions, homelessness, co-morbidity of illness and culture intersect to influence their decisions.
Description
Keywords
Education--Health, Anthropology--Cultural, Native American Studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, WomenÕs Studies, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Public Health
Citation
Nash, T. M. (2016). Life in the Shadows: Examining the Role that HIV Status Plays in the Decision Making Processes of HIV Positive Aboriginal Women in Terms of Their Reproductive Health and Their Decisions to Have a Child or Not (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26760