“Struggle against Bitter Life”: Lived Experience of Iranian Nurses with HIV/AIDS

Objectives:The impact of HIV/AIDS on the healthcare system in many countries, particularly in developing countries is significant.Due to the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in these countries, remarkable number of nurses have contracted HIV through their work.HIV/AIDS poses a major threat to people's physical and emotional health status as well as their social well-being and it has overwhelming effects on personal and social lives of HIV-positive people.HIV-positive nurses, like other patients, are subject to many stresses, but because of their special professional and social conditions they may bear more psychological and social burdens.Materials and methods: A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to examine the everyday experiences of nurses who suffer HIV/AIDS.To conduct the study, six methodical steps which developed by van Manen (1990) applied in the process of the inquiry.Eight HIV-positive nurses were recruited and selected through a purposive sampling method.Data was collected by conducting 12 face-to-face in-depth semi-structured interviews with participants, two women and six men who became HIV-infected through occupational exposure.A thematic analysis method was used to extract themes and sub-themes.Results: Through thematic analysis of transcriptions, two main themes 'past, not passed' and 'struggle against bitter life' emerged.We found that the daily life of HIV/AIDS nurses is like a limbo between the past and the present.They are constantly trying to push themselves from this limbo of death to life.Conclusions: According to the results, participants were immersed in bitter memories of their past, which has always cast a dark shadow over their lives.