A study of practices, knowledges and experiences of HIV treatment.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Multiple translations of HIV enactment in clinical environments: a study of practices, knowledges and experiences of HIV treatment in the presence of multiple biomedical technologies.
IRAS ID
110585
Contact name
Agata Pacho
Contact email
Research summary
The purpose of this study is to form an understanding of the multiple ways in which HIV care is practiced in two contrasting national settings and specific high standard clinics. It is expected that the study will offer tools for improving the lives of people living with HIV as well as contribute to the broader spectrum of public health. Following arguments that otherwise presumed standardized research on HIV as well as experience of living with HIV differs accordingly to geographical location (see for example, Rosengarten & Michael, 2009a; 2009b), the study will reveal how distinctive characteristics of clinics in Warsaw and London offer alternative perspectives on practices of HIV care. The analysis of clinics in Poland and the UK will involve qualitative and ethnographic research. Interviews will be conducted with health professionals and gay men living with HIV and subjected to antiretroviral treatment. Observations will be undertaken of medical examinations and consultations between doctors and patients.
The project will examine how antiretroviral therapy which aims at prolonging and maximizing the quality of life for people living with HIV by preventing the onset of AIDS, crosses geographical boundaries, assimilates itself to heterogeneous environments and adapts to specific time and location. The research will enable investigation of different modes of engaging with the virus, biomedical technologies, medical practices and patients’ adherence to therapies. Expectantly, it will reveal how what is often perceived in medicine as standardized procedures of managing an illness, may produce different outcomes in various contexts.
In addition, the study will be undertaken in collaboration with The Training and Resource Initiative (JUSTRI) UK and Social AIDS Committee (SKA) Poland. Both are HIV specialist organizations. The advisory nature of this collaboration will ensure that the research outcomes are tailored to assist practitioners and policymakers in advancing HIV health care.REC name
London - Fulham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/0984
Date of REC Opinion
20 Aug 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion