Intimate relationships in young adults with perinatally acquired HIV: Partner considerations

Abstract Due to developments in anti-retroviral treatment, an increasing number of children with perinatally acquired HIV are now surviving into late adolescence and young adulthood. This cohort is facing normative challenges in terms of their intimate relationships as well as challenges that face all individuals with HIV regardless of the route of transmission (for example, concerns about disclosure). There may be additional issues specific to having grown up with HIV that affect intimate relationships, for example, the awareness of being HIV positive before the onset of intimate relationships and the way that identity is shaped by having lived with HIV from a young age. To date there has been some limited research on the experience of intimate relationships in perinatally infected adolescents but none in young adults. This exploratory study examined, in depth, experiences of intimate relationships in perinatally acquired young adults and how they perceived having grown up with HIV to have affected such ...