GENDER, AIDS, AND BEREAVEMENT: A COMPARISON OF WOMEN AND MEN LIVING WITH HIV

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the bereavement experience, psychiatric morbidity, and suicidality in bereaved men and women living with HIV. HIV+ women (n = 31) who reported a loss in the recent 12 months were case matched to bereaved HIV+ men (n = 62) on the basis of lifetime histories of major depression. Study participants were examined for grief reactions, psychiatric morbidity, mood symptomatology, and suicidality using the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief Revised, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, the Hamilton Depression and Anxiety Rating, and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Suicide. Bereaved HIV+ women presented with intensified bereavement responses, a higher prevalence of current generalized anxiety disorder, and elevated thoughts and gestures of suicide and when compared to HIV+ men. In conclusion, bereaved women living with HIV may be at increased risk for bereavement complicated with psychiatric morbidity and thoughts of suicide. It is critical that adequate mental health support services be available to this growing risk group of bereaved individuals.