Positive Meaningful Events and Coping in the Context of HIV/AIDS

Abstract

chapter Examined positive meaningful events that help HIV+ and HIV- caregivers of men with AIDS get through their days, with an overall goal to begin developing a theoretical framework for understanding the coping functions of these events. The nature of events that are both positive and meaningful in the context of chronic stress and the way in which these events help people cope with chronic stress are examined.... The 36 participants in this analysis varied on 2 significant dimensions, caregiving and HIV seropositivity, to examine how these dimensions may be related to differences in the nature of the events found positive and meaningful.... Results show that the lives of men providing care to a partner dying of AIDS are chronically stressful, with unrelenting demands for care and emotional support. HIV+ Subjects also were faced with an ongoing threat to their own health and well-being. Nevertheless, in the face of extreme and chronic stress, these men were able to report events that were meaningful, positive, and accessible on a daily basis. ((c) 1999 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved)