NEGOTIATING THE JOURNEY: A GROUNDED THEORY STUDY OF FAMILY/FRIEND CAREGIVING IN THE CONTEXT OF AIDS (IMMUNE DEFICIENCY).
Contributors: Wayne State University.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 198
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Sociology, Individual and Family Studies.
Description: The goal of this study was to make explicit the conditions and consequences of family/friend caregiving within the context of AIDS. Its purpose was to describe and explain strategies used by those who gave and those who received care--to derive a theory of caregiving from the described experiences of informants.

The primary sources of data for this study were (a) in-depth interviews conducted with 18 informants--nine persons with AIDS (PWAs) and nine caregivers, and (b) the investigator's three-year field experiences as a participant observer facilitating a support group whose members were lovers, friends and family of persons with AIDS/HIV. The grounded theory method of constant comparative analysis was used to derive and confirm a theory which emerged from and explained the data. The procedures for analysis, as recommended by Glaser (1978) and Strauss and Corbin (1990) were described in detail with examples in the form of quotations, coding, and working hypotheses.

Negotiating the journey was found to be the core category which conceptually related and explained the variability in experiences of PWAs and caregivers as they sought, gave, and received care. Participants employed the strategies of control of awareness and framing time throughout the journey which encompassed the processes of gearing up, living with AIDS, looking down the road, and post planning. As travelers, participants used all of the resources and skills available to them and learned over the course of the journey to seek and develop new skills and resources. Once they had gained expertise in negotiating the journey they shared their knowledge with others, becoming a guide to novice travelers or urging preventive behaviors. Management strategies included finding a guide, gauging the territory, monitoring, working the system, making tradeoffs, and reshaping the relationship. This theory will help nurses to understand the challenges and strengths of these clients and will provide information for planning and giving care.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-12, Section: B, page: 6219.

Thesis (PH.D.)--WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY, 1992.

School code: 0254.