1 research outputs found
Understanding how people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) experience social support in evangelical congregations
The HIV epidemic continues to be a global health crisis with an estimated 38 million
people living with HIV worldwide. It is increasingly important to examine the
psychosocial and spiritual issues that are present among people living with HIV/AIDS
(PLWHA) to help decrease at-risk behavior and stigma associated with HIV. Faith can be
an empowering social support system for PLWHA. Evangelical congregations have the
potential to be HIV-comportment communities. This qualitative study utilizes
hermeneutic phenomenology to analyze and interpret the lived experiences of 12
PLWHA who have a connection to an evangelical congregation. Anti-Oppression Theory
and the intersectionality of faith and HIV, as it relates to oppression and empowerment,
provide the conceptual framework for this study. Six major themes emerged from the
data: Multifaceted Stigma, Power and Oppression, Patients as Educators, Our Voices
Matter: What Works and What Doesn’t, Where Do We Fit In, and Mortality with Eternity
in Mind. The most prominent theme, Multifaceted Stigma, identified congregational
discrimination, lack of knowledge, and negative attitudes about HIV towards participants
in this study. Findings highlighted a variety of psycho-social stressors exhibited by
PLWHA, the importance of perceived and received support in congregations, and the
intersection between spirituality and Anti-Oppressive Practice. The implications of these
findings indicate the importance of PLWHA’s individual and collective voices; provide
suggestions for evangelical congregations to become HIV-competent communities; and
discuss the role of congregational social work with PLWHA