Ageing with HIV: challenges and coping mechanisms of older adults 50 years and above living with HIV in Uganda

Mbalinda, SN, Lusota, DA, Muddu, M and Nyashanu, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9231-0393, 2024. Ageing with HIV: challenges and coping mechanisms of older adults 50 years and above living with HIV in Uganda. BMC Geriatrics, 24: 95. ISSN 1471-2318

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Abstract

Introduction: Globally, adults 50 years and older are an increasing proportion of persons living with HIV (PLHIV), accounting for 16% of the patient group globally. The long-term effects of antiretroviral use are still being discovered and have been associated with several comorbidities; Stigma presents challenges for those in need of services and health care and can significantly affect mental health and treatment adherence. Understanding the experiences and challenges of older PLHIV will inform the development of interventions to improve their care, health, and quality of life, which may help prevent the further spread of HIV. We explored the experiences and challenges of older PLHIV aged 50 years and above.

Methods: We conducted 40 in-depth interviews with elderly PLHIV aged 50 years and above who had lived with HIV for more than ten years. We also explored the experiences and challenges of ageing with HIV in two hospitals. We analysed the data thematically.

Results: The key themes that emerged included; late diagnosis of HIV, depression and fear at the time of diagnosis, acceptance of close family, stigma from community, polypharmacy, development of comorbidities, financial burden, resilience, and mastery of own care.

Conclusion: Older adults experience several challenges, and there is a need to develop special clinics providing appropriate care for the ageing and their social life. Prevention, Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of HIV, and appropriate geriatric care are essential for the well-being of elderly PLHIV.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	BMC Geriatrics
Creators:	Mbalinda, S.N., Lusota, D.A., Muddu, M. and Nyashanu, M.
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date:	24 January 2024
Volume:	24
ISSN:	1471-2318
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1186/s12877-024-04704-z DOI 1858768 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	08 Feb 2024 09:22
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2024 09:22
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/50821

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