Configurações familiares de idosos que vivem com HIV/Aids

• Ano de defesa: 2017
• Autor(a) principal: Lima Neta, Maria Irene Ferreira
• Orientador(a): Kahhale, Edna Maria Severino Peters
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em Psicologia: Psicologia Clínica
• Departamento: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e da Saúde
• País: Brasil
• Palavras-chave em Português: Idosos - Cuidados no lar; Sindrome de imunodeficiencia adquirida - Idosos; Idosos - Relações familiares
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Elderly people; Healthcare; Familial relationships
• Área do conhecimento CNPq: CNPQ::CIENCIAS HUMANAS::PSICOLOGIA
• Link de acesso: https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/19855

Talking about family today means encountering several historically and socially changed issues regarding this institution. These changes, which are both structural and functional, have taken place over its existence, which dates from thousands of years ago. In relation to family, there must be taken into consideration the experiences lived and the affectional bonds formed by an individual within the familial relationship. In this aspect, familial relationships may be constructive or destructive or, in some families, both constructive and destructive. These family patterns must be taken into consideration when discussing and studying families. We observe that all changes in families are influenced by social, legal and work-related events, in addition to health and illness factors. Slightly over three decades ago, society learned of a new disease which is sexually transmissible through the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This disease is the cause of changes, not only to the lives of persons living with HIV, but also to the lives of their relatives as they learn of the lived experiences of a seropositive family member. Since an HIV diagnosis is associated with strong prejudice and, in many cases, reveals a person’s sexual practices and/or betrayal by a spouse or partner, few people disclose their HIV seropositive status to their families. Among those who do, there are criteria for telling one family member and not telling another one. Therefore, studies show that an HIV diagnosis causes changes in family functioning and in the relationships between family members. At times, these relationships become so deteriorated that what is considered as family, family experiences and family patterns changes in a different manner for each family member. With the increase in the number of elderly seropositive persons and considering that they are the oldest representatives and the depositaries of family traditions, the objective of our study was to unveil the family structures of elderly people living with HIV. We worked with both extended and nuclear families. The study was carried out at the Outpatient Clinic for Infection-Contagious and Parasitic Diseases of the Federal University of Sao Paulo, state of Sao Paulo. Participants were 37 elderly people (24 men and 13 women) aged between 60 and 82 years, in addition to 19 family members aged between 17 and 79 years. All participants signed the Free and Informed Consent Form, and individually provided responses, which were audio-recorded, to questions about familial relationships, sexuality, the influence of HIV on familial relationships, and secrecy. Finally, family-of-origin and currentfamily genograms were built. Results show that the family structures of elderly people living with HIV are the constructive ones, with behaviors of care, shelter and union, whereas destructive family structures are those of isolation, prejudice and discrimination. In most cases, gender is represented by unequal gender practices, where the hegemonic roles are those of caregivers for women and providers for men. For most participants, HIV plays a secondary role in familial relationships, since other family issues prove to be of greater importance than living with the virus, and the condition does not interfere with familial relationships. For those families where HIV is a determining factor, this causes family members to live under constant alert and limits familial relationships. Secrecy is protective when it safeguards familial relationships and shields family members against prejudice. It is destructive when it causes suffering to those family members who know, and when it limits their behaviors. Our conclusion is that for both groups, i.e. families and participants without family members, family structures involve constructive patterns with care, shelter and union, where HIV plays a secondary role in familial relationships and secrecy has a protective function. In turn, also for both groups, destructive family patterns are formed with isolation, prejudice and discrimination, where HIV is a determining factor and secrecy plays a destructive role