Women with AIDS and Their Children

Health care policy and proposals for national health care reform have become some of the most contentious political issues of the decade. Garland Publishing announces a new series addressing the most significant issues in the area of health care policy and the business of health care in the United States. books in this multidisciplinary series will include studies of health care practice, the health care business, the implications of multicultural perspectives on health care for public policy, the impact of insurance on health care, and debates over national health care policy, including health care reform. This collection of timely works will offer significant scholarly perspectives on one of the most important issues in public policy.

Women, especially African American and Latina women, comprise the fastest-growing group of people with AIDS in the United States. Most live in areas where poverty and crime are prevalent. The vertical transmission of HIV+/AIDS, in which transmission occurs in utero, is expected to become a leading cause of childhood death in the next decade. Most research on women with AIDS has ignored the psychological effects of the disease as associated with vertical transmission.

Through interviews of women who are HIV+ or have AIDS, this book examines the women's reactions to AIDS and their relationships with their children as they cope with the disease. The findings indicate that most women with AIDS live in isolation and fear of disclosure. Psychological factors were found to be related to the progression of the disease, available support, and the existance of a reason to live. Maternal attachment is intensified with children with AIDS, or children whosecondition is uncertain. Women reported that they neglected themselves to care for their children, but that AIDS-related symptoms frequently prevented them from providing optimal care. Mothers looked to their healthy children for assistance with household tasks, childcare, and emotional support.