| What does help mean to you? |
Receiving support, welcoming, psychosocial and family support. |
DCS01- Having everyone’s support, feeling welcome, perceiving willingness to help regardless of the problem, at any time, without wanting anything in return. Receiving support specially from family, friends and loved ones. Psychological support enhances emotional health, as the disease really affects the emotions. (E1, E2, E3, E4, E6, E7, E10, E11, E12, E13, E14, E15, E16, E17, E19, E20, E21, E22, E24, E25, E26, E27, E30, E32, E38, E40, E41, E42, E43, E47). |
| Do you like receiving help? |
Help leads to forgetting the disease and facilitates acceptance. |
DCS02 - It is good to receive help from everyone you like, because sometimes, when the disease comes to mind, you feel sadder and you can’t talk. Then when a friend visits, the disease gets out of your mind and it is already a huge help. I think it is a fundamental thing in this moment of life. Help is essential not only for dealing with the disease itself but also for knowing how to deal with society, reducing the possibility of depression and preventing suicide. (E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E9, E10, E11, E13, E14, E15, E16, E17, E20, E22, E23, E24, E25, E26, E28, E30, E32, E35, E37, E38, E40, E44, E49). |
| Have you experienced problems (need-for-help) since the diagnosis of HIV? |
Coping with HIV involves accepting oneself, overcoming fear and fighting the prejudice of society, family members and close people. |
DCS03 - The biggest issue is denying the disease, it’s self-acceptance. The friends who know about it do not even mention the subject, and this is comforting, because prejudice is difficult to face. Despite of the time elapsed since the diagnosis, not all close people know about it, so that prejudice can be avoided. Living with that scar, with that disease forever, hurts. There is a fear that people will know about HIV, so pushing friends away is often inevitable. Sometimes the person living with HIV has prejudice againts their own disease. Staying mentally well is a psychological struggle. They often fear death and resent their own life because they can’t deal with all the bad consequences of the disease. (E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10, E11, E12, E13, E14. E15, E16, E18, E19, E20, E21, E23, E24, E25, E26, 27, E29, E30, E35, E36, E38, E39, E42, E43, E44, E45, E46, E48). |
| Who is the person that currently offers you help? |
Help comes from health professionals, family members and close people. |
DCS04 - Help comes mainly from some friends and health care professionals. The service professionals are wonderful, they provide a lot of help. Friends are also great, sometimes it’s possible to forget about the virus when in their company, they are trustworthy. They become psychological help. Support from family still does not exist. It would be a shock for family, as it would be a double revelation: being gay and being diagnosed with HIV, and that would be very difficult. (E1, E2. E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10, E11, E12, E14, E18, E19, E20, E22, E23, E24, E25, E26, E27, E29, E30, E31, E35, E40, E42, E44, E45, E46, E49). |
| Has any nurse helped you in the process of coping with HIV? |
The nurse’s help is significant in coping with HIV. |
DCS05 - The professionals are wonderful, they answer questions, explain everything in detail and are very helpful. There is no help from a psychologist to cope with the disease, to go beyond physical well-being. It would be great if every routine visit had counseling, even with the clinical part, just to vent a little. The nurses helped accepting the diagnosis, offered many tips and, despite of fear, brought hope of still having a good life. (E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10, E11, E12, E13, E14, E15, E16, E17, E19, E23, E24, E25, E26, E29, E30, E35, E36, E39, E41, E42, E44, E46). |
| What kind of help do you expect to receive to meet your HIV treatment needs? |
Psychological help. |
DCS06 - More support with coping, with conversations, with life is expected, in addition to help with medication and control of viral load. It would be great to have support groups in the services, to exchange experiences with other people who are also infected, with a professional to provide support. This would even help with the family, as family members are usually pushed away. This emotional support would be very important, because there is no point in having an undetectable viral load and looking at yourself as if you were dying or feeling depressed. There is a lack of help on affective and sexual life issues. Sex is an issue that causes insecurity after diagnosis, because little is said about it. However, there is hope that advances in the medical area can lead to a cure. This would be the best help possible. (E1, E2, E3, E4, E7, E9, E10, E11, E12, E13, E14, E16, E17, E18, E19, E20, E21, E25, E26, E27, E29, E31, E34, E37, E39, E41, E43, E44, E46, E47, E48). |
Analysis of the needs for help of men who have sex with men and live with HIV