Making Sense of a Precipice: Constituting Identity in an HIV Clinic (From AIDS: Social Representations, Social Practices, P 101-126, 1989, Peter Aggleton, Graham Hart, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-138040)

• NCJ Number: 130846
• Author(s): D Silverman
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: Taylor & Francis Inc.
• Publication Type: Conference Material
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Paper presented at the Second United Kingdom Conference on Social Aspects of AIDS, 1987, London

Annotation

This paper reports an observational case study of a clinic offering services to people with HIV infection, identifies styles of patient self-representation, and examines the role of positive thinking in patient responses to their condition.

Abstract

The clinic was located in an inner city hospital in southern England. It was held weekly at the time of the research to monitor the progress of HIV positive patients who were taking the drug AZT (Retrovir). The clinic was separate from the hospital and had an unattractive decor. Patients were seen by one or two consultant physicians, a pharmacist, and an occasional medical student. Most patients had blood taken by a nurse practitioner and saw one of several counselors who serviced the clinic. It was found that just as living with AIDS can become a set of practical routines embedded in a culture of adjustment, caring for patients can become a matter of medical routine. The clinic had a routine, businesslike atmosphere, although one of the strategies professionals use to cope with people who have HIV infection is to separate body from mind. It can be argued that the media's reaction to pubic anxiety about AIDS has been to police boundaries. Perhaps the beginning of a critical response to media representations of the disease and modern forms of health care can be found in challenges to the policing of boundaries. 9 references and 7 notes