Parental Caregiving to Adult Children with AIDS

Published in 2001 in association with UNAIDS, this report provides a qualitative analysis of the circumstances and consequences of parental caregiving to adult children with AIDS in Thailand based on open-ended interviews, primarily with parents of adult children who died of AIDS. The results reveal the circumstances that led to parental caregiving, the tasks involved and the strains they created, how parents coped with these strains, and the consequences for their emotional, social, and economic well-being. The experiences and consequences revealed are influenced in part by features relatively specific to the Thai setting but at the same time reflect conditions that are likely to be common to many other developing countries experiencing serious epidemics.

This document is part of a research project funded by the U.S. National Institute on Aging and conducted by a joint team of Thai and US researchers. The project explores the impact of HIV/AIDS on older persons in Thailand whose adult children are infected with the HIV virus.