The Family Context of Care in HIV/AIDS: A Study from Mumbai, India

Though the continuum of care model has been adopted in HIV/AIDS intervention, there is little empirical work documenting the experiences of caregiving families. Addressing this gap, a study on family caregiving and care receiving was undertaken in Mumbai, India. In-depth interviews were conducted with seven seropositive caregivers, seven seropositive care receivers and five seronegative caregivers. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted, yielding a number of key themes. This paper discusses the key theme of the family context of care which includes the caregiving system, family values, perceived mode of infection, gender of the seropositive person, and class. Implications of the findings for policy and program planning are discussed