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Women and children living with HIV infection

Some psychological concerns

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Diane Melvin*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Health Psychology, St Mary's Hospital London W2 1NY
Lorraine Sherr
Affiliation:
Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London
*
Correspondence
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HIV infection is a relatively new disease affecting families (Pizzo & Wilfert, 1994). As with other chronic and life-threatening illnesses, families are faced with many changes and losses as well as much uncertainty about the future (Eiser, 1990). Unlike most other conditions, however, there can be extra stigma-related stresses, such as fear and secrecy, which can compound existing burdens of illness and coping (Richmond & Ross, 1995). As further knowledge of the full impact on HIV on families evolves, there is a need to consider the effects of multiple loss and changes on the mental health and adjustment of the children as well as their parents (Melvin & Sherr, 1995; Reidy, 1995).

Type
Women's Mental Health
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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