Living in the Blurry World: The Story of HIV-infected Iranian Nurses

Background: Despite progress in reducing HIV-related mortality over the past decade, the prevalence and incidence of HIV infection slightly decreased. Nursing profession as a part of the health care system is most affected by HIV/AIDS. HIV-positive nurses need more support from governments and officials. Little is known about how Iranian HIV-positive nurses experience their life situations.  Aim: This study evaluated the experiences of HIV-positive nurses and their attempts to manage HIV/AIDS in personal and occupational livings. Method: The hermeneutic phenomenological approach developed by van Manen’s methodology (1990) was adopted to explore the experience of daily life for HIV-positive nurses. A purposive sampling of eight HIV-positive nurses was recruited. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with two female and six male nurses who had infected with HIV via occupational exposure. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: The experiences of HIV-infected nurses derived in one major theme and three subthemes. Major theme “living in the blurry world” extracted from three sub-themes: ‘being-in-the-risky world’, ‘being-in-the-shadow of illness’, and ‘ambiguous being-in-the-world’. Implications for Practice: HIV positive nurses perceive the world full of fear and ambiguities. They prefer to suffer in silence and reluctant to disclose their seropositive status. The results of this study can be used by professionals to better understand the HIV positive nurses’ world and make more efforts to improve their workplace experiences and reduce stigma in the future.