Identifying Structural Factors Affecting Healthcare for Women Living With HIV/AIDS Through Autobiographical Narratives

Abstract

The experience of living with HIV is embedded with stigma and discrimination deeply rooted in the socio-cultural context. Women living with HIV (WLWH) endure complex issues due to the patriarchal structure of society in India. This study endeavors to understand structural factors affecting the healthcare of WLWH using the theoretical framework of autobiographical narratives. Open-ended interviews are conducted for this study with WLWH resulting in 11 in-depth interviews of WLWH that are used for analysis. The interviews are constructed into narratives, and grounded theory approach is used to generate codes. Further, constant comparison method is used to discern common themes among these narratives. The theoretical framework of memory specificity is used to explore the experiences of WLWH. The results of this study are broadly categorized into three themes, namely physical healthcare, psychological healthcare, and reproductive healthcare. There is a need to focus on gender-based contextual factors to improve healthcare access as well as healthcare seeking among WLWH.