HIV Self-management: A Concept Analysis

Abstract

HIV self-management in people living with HIV has long been associated with nursing care and nursing research. This phenomenon is a crucial concept in the arena of HIV nursing, however, its meaning in this context is not clearly defined in the relevant literature. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept of a HIV self-management and to clarify its meaning, define the attributes of the concept, more fully describe the term, and grasp the scope of the concept. To conduct this concept analysis study, Walker and Avant’s method was employed. It consisted of eight vital steps, including 1) selection of a concept of interest, 2) determining the aims or purposes of the analysis, 3) identifying all uses of the concept, 4) determining the concept’s defining attributes, 5) identifying a model case, 6) identifying borderline, related, and contrary cases, 7) identifying antecedents and consequences, and 8) defining empirical referents. The findings of this concept analysis of HIV self-management yielded a definition of HIV self-management and its attributes. The five defining attributes were 1) Resources 2) Knowledge, 3) Adherence to a plan, 4) Active participation, and 5) Informed decision-making. Based on this, HIV self-management should be defined as the individual’s ability to self-manage their health to diminish the impacts of illness attributed to the intensity of HIV infection. To sum up, HIV self-management is a concept related to positive nursing outcomes. Hence, it should be utilized as a guide for assessing the quality of nursing care and for developing measurements for nursing research and nursing theory.