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Patient narratives have much to teach healthcare professionals about the experience of living with a chronic condition. While the biomedical narrative of HIV treatment is hugely encouraging, the narrative of living with HIV continues to be overshadowed by a persuasive perception of stigma. This paper presents how we sought to translate the evidence from a qualitative study of the perspectives of HIV affected pregnant women and expectant fathers on the care they received, from the pre conception to post natal period, into educational material for maternity care practice. Narrative scripts were written based on the original research interviews, with care taken to reflect the key themes from the research. We explore the way in which the qualitative findings bring to life patient and partner experiences and what it means for nurses, midwives and doctors to be prepared to care for couples affected by HIV. In so doing, we challenge the inequity between the dominance of biomedical knowledge over understanding the patient experience in the preparation of health professionals to care for HIV affected women and men who are having a baby or seeking to have a baby.

Original publication

DOI

10.3390/ijerph111010504

Type

Journal article

Journal

Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publication Date

14/10/2014

Volume

11

Pages

10504 - 10517

Keywords

Education, Distance, Fathers, Female, HIV Infections, HIV Seropositivity, Health Education, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Health Personnel, Humans, Learning, Male, Northern Ireland, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Complications, Pregnant Women, Qualitative Research, Sexual Partners