TY - JOUR
T1 - Embodied work
T2 - Insider perspectives on the work of HIV/AIDS peer counselors
AU - Messias, Deanne K.Hilfinger
AU - Moneyham, Linda
AU - Vyavaharkar, Medha
AU - Murdaugh, Carolyn
AU - Phillips, Kenneth D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Received 7 November 2007; accepted 29 May 2008. This research was supported by supplemental grant #1R01 NR04956 from the National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health. Address correspondence to DeAnne K. Hilfinger Messias, PhD, RN, FAAN, College of Nursing and Women’s and Gender Studies Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
PY - 2009/7
Y1 - 2009/7
N2 - Our aim in this study was to explore HIV/AIDS peer counseling from the perspective of women actively engaged in this work within the context of a community-based program in rural areas of the southeastern United States. Based on this research we suggest that the embodied work of HIV/AIDS peer counselors is constructed around their personal identities and experiences. This work involves gaining entry to other HIV-positive women's lives, building relationships, drawing on personal experiences, facing issues of fear and stigma, tailoring peer counseling for diversity, balancing risks and benefits, and terminating relationships. Peer counselors recognize the personal and collective value of their work, which, like much of women's work within the context of family and community, lacks public visibility and acknowledgment. We discuss implications for the training and support of peer-based interventions for HIV and other women's health issues across diverse contexts and settings.
AB - Our aim in this study was to explore HIV/AIDS peer counseling from the perspective of women actively engaged in this work within the context of a community-based program in rural areas of the southeastern United States. Based on this research we suggest that the embodied work of HIV/AIDS peer counselors is constructed around their personal identities and experiences. This work involves gaining entry to other HIV-positive women's lives, building relationships, drawing on personal experiences, facing issues of fear and stigma, tailoring peer counseling for diversity, balancing risks and benefits, and terminating relationships. Peer counselors recognize the personal and collective value of their work, which, like much of women's work within the context of family and community, lacks public visibility and acknowledgment. We discuss implications for the training and support of peer-based interventions for HIV and other women's health issues across diverse contexts and settings.
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U2 - 10.1080/07399330902928766
DO - 10.1080/07399330902928766
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:68249095466
SN - 0739-9332
VL - 30
SP - 570
EP - 592
JO - Health care for women international
JF - Health care for women international
IS - 7
ER -