Adolescentes vivendo com HIV/AIDS: impasses no tratamento

Abstract

These studies discuss existing impasses in the treatment of adolescents infected with the HIV/Aids and the consequences affecting their caregivers and assisting doctors. Scientific advances have allowed that the HIV infection be considered a chronic disease. The additional burden of being chronic adds to all the current difficulties of living with an infectious and stigmatizing disease. The treatment adherence by adolescent patients is another challenge among many others. The adolescence and all that is characteristic of this phase of life oppose to what is necessary for an adequate health accompaniment. Some of the factors that interfere in the acceptance of antiretroviral drugs by adolescent patients are well known. Nevertheless, the clinical practice continues marked by impasses. The overall objective of this study is the investigation of impasses affecting adolescents, who are infected with HIV/Aids and are being assisted in a reference health center. That investigation was made from the perspective of the adolescents themselves, their caregivers and doctors. A qualitative methodology through narrative interviews with the teenagers and semi-structured interviews with their caregivers and assisting doctors was applied. The thematic content was analyzed. The theoretical standards were those of the clinic of the health of the teenager, updated literature of t he HIV/Aids infection in adolescence mostly, and psychoanalysis. Four medical doctors, four caregivers, and seven adolescents from twelve to eighteen years old were interviewed. Impasses were differentiated for each studied group and for each teenager, individually. Despite particularities of each group, the adolescence theme occurred in all of them and the doctor-patient relationship emerged as a possible solution. The construction of the link between adolescent and health professional, in addition to the partnership and support of the patient's family, provides the necessary space for the teenager being the author of his health and the adhesion to the treatment could be an opportunity.