Experiences of living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand - A qualitative study

Abstract: This thesis and study is sponsored by Minor Field Study scholarship through University of Borås and is funded by SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency). There are around half a million people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand and it is one of Thailand’s most increasing public health diseases since 1984. There are several organizations working jointly with prevention and lifting the level of knowledge among the public and decreasing new infections.The aim of this study is to describe experiences of persons living with HIV or AIDS in Thailand. In-depth interviews was carried out and analysed with a qualitative content analysis. Six persons, three female and three male, aged between 18 to 67 years living with either HIV or AIDS participated. The informants expressed that they were enjoying life and had plans for the future despite of the infection as they felt a sense of wellbeing, had an acceptance of the infection and themselves. It was important to have support from friends and family to cope with life and that support made them feel blessed and grateful. However the informants also expressed a feeling of no self worth and that they had giving up living because of feeling isolated, stigmatized, depressed, ashamed of themselves and being a burden with a sense of guilt that made them repress themselves. The conclusion is that these aspects were interlinked but the negative dominated among these with AIDs and the positive aspects were more common among the informants living with HIV.