Information and the Management of Treatment in Chronic Illness: A Qualitative Study of People Living With HIV -Disease
Transcripts from the in-depth interviews were coded to identify patterns relevant to the project research questions, and other artifacts collected or generated during fieldwork were used as supplementary evidence. Analysis revealed that participants rely extensively on health care providers and other individuals living with illness as sources of information and conduits for learning about their treatment regimens. Other information sources and activities tied closely to the individual and their surrounding personal environment, including past experience and bodily sensations, trial and error work, and the creation and maintenance of routines are also important, particularly when searching for ways to meaningfully integrate a new or altered treatment regimen into daily life. Finally, beyond gathering and using treatment-related information, participants also described making dedicated efforts to control the access that other people have to information regarding their treatment of HIV/AIDS. The implications of these findings for existing conceptualizations of health information, information seeking and use, and models of chronic illness management are examined.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign