HIV Positive Patients’ Experiences on Receiving an HIV Positive Test: An Iranian – Qualitative Study

Banafsheh Moradmand-Badie^{1, 2}, Saeedeh Moayedi-Nia¹, Maryam Foroughi¹, Masoumeh Dejman³, Rana Nikzad¹, Maryam Akhlaghkhah¹, Mehrnaz Rasoolinejad^1, and Lillian Mwanri²

¹Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS, Iranian Institute for Reduction of High-Risk Behaviors, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran

²Discipline of Public Health, School of Health Sciences, Flinders University, South Australia

³Social Determinants of Health Research Centre, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Cite this paper:
Banafsheh Moradmand-Badie, Saeedeh Moayedi-Nia, Maryam Foroughi, Masoumeh Dejman, Rana Nikzad, Maryam Akhlaghkhah, Mehrnaz Rasoolinejad and Lillian Mwanri. HIV Positive Patients’ Experiences on Receiving an HIV Positive Test: An Iranian – Qualitative Study. American Journal of Epidemiology and Infectious Disease. 2014; 2(1):47-51. doi: 10.12691/ajeid-2-1-9

Abstract

The main objective of this current study is to provide information about HIV positive patients’ experiences toward realizing HIV test results by using qualitative method. Ten HIV positive patients participated in30- to 60-min semi-structure interviews which involved open ended questions. Five main codes were identified. The findings revealed reasons for HIV testing including: emotional reactions in time of realizing HIV status, physical reactions towards understanding of HIV status, mitigating factors, aggravating factors. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that HIV service providers should consider post -test counseling for HIV positive patients. This counseling might be more helpful when done by a HIV specialist and trained HIV positive patients.

Keywords:
HIV positive patients experiences HIV test

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