At the helm of haart: The experience of biographical time among people living with hiv in Nigeria

• Main Author: Ayodeji Bayo Ogunrotifa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-01-01
• Series: Social Sciences and Humanities Open
• Subjects: HIV; Biographical time; Nigeria; HAART
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291121000310

HIV is a chronic illness that does not yet have a cure but can be managed over a period (of time). HIV management is a biographical experience, structured by its temporal essence.Time is woven into the biographical structure of HIV management, meaning that an HIV diagnosis accelerates a person’s biographical awareness of temporality, which they may have previously taken for granted. This study explores the experiences of biographical time in people living with HIV. Thirty-two qualitative interviews were conducted with HIV-positive individuals, recruited via two HIV support groups in south-west Nigeria and have been living with HIV for at least two years. The transcribed interviews were analysed using thematic method of analysis. Four forms of biographical temporal orientation emerged from the participants’ experience of living with HIV in everyday life. These forms of temporal orientation—‘improvement on the past’, ‘living in the ambitious present’, ‘living in the curative future’ and ‘worried about the future’ are presented in this paper The participants compare their past and present, map out changes that has occurred in comparative terms and draw useful implications that are likely to predict or shape their future temporal outcomes. The experience of biographical temporality in HIV-positive individuals reveals a wide array of interpersonal, personal and social issues that are widely connected to the everyday management of HIV, which may be useful to global health agencies, international donor organisations, national government and counsellors and healthcare professionals in the delivery of healthcare services.