Living with intentionality: Preservation strategies of people with HIV/AIDS in Taiwan

Objective: With the prospect of increasing numbers of patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), healthcare professionals need to be better informed about patients' perspectives in order to provide efficacious, compassionate, and efficient care. In Taiwan, the biomedical research and healthcare professionals' perspectives have dominated research related to HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the study was to investigate the presentation strategies used by people with HIV/AIDS, which have, thus far, been unexplored. Materials and methods: This study used a phenomenological approach to gain insight into patients' presentation strategies. In-depth, openended interviews were used to collect data. Interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim to maintain data integrity and to reduce perceptual bias. The open coding procedure was used to analyze the interview transcripts. Results: Study participants were 14 male patients with an average age of 35.71 years, who had known their positive HIV status for an average of 24.9 months. Study participants used a set of preservation strategies to enhance their strength in coping with multiple stressors related to HIV/AIDS. These preservation strategies included acceptance of the illness and treatment, being light-hearted about physical symptoms and the illness, maintenance of a healthy lifestyle and hope for a cure, use of willpower and transforming reflections, and altruistic thoughts and behavior. Conclusions: This indigenous study facilitate professionals' in having a better understanding of patients' perspectives that might be encountered in healthcare settings. The findings of this study form a basis for healthcare professionals to design appropriate interventions to educate patients for adaptive success.