Becoming partners: the meaning of caring for patients with HIV and AIDS

The purpose of this study was to understand and describe what constitutes caring as experienced by persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLWAs) along their illness trajectory. Interpretative phenomenology was employed. Six men and one woman living with HIV or AIDS participated in open-ended interviews. Interviews were analyzed according to Benner (1994) through paradigm cases, thematic analyses, and analyses of examples. Convenience sampling was used to select participants. Two distinct categories were interpreted: Letting go step by step and becoming partners. Letting go step by step encompasses the entire time people are living with HIV/AIDS illness trajectory. Becoming partners describes the relationship and commitments between PLWAs and families, friends, and health care providers. These findings reinforce the need for families, friends, and health care providers to become partners with PLWASs and to work on this partnership along the entire illness trajectory.