A phenomenology of informal caregiving for HIV/AIDS in India: Exploring women's search for authoritative knowledge, self-efficacy and resilience

Women provide informal caregiving across the world and are often expected to provide care even when ailing themselves. We explore the lived experience of 33 impoverished married Indian women living with HIV and caring for their husbands and/or children living with HIV. Drawing on concepts of authoritative knowledge (AK), self-efficacy and resilience, we found a trajectory that reveals barriers to accessing care, yet we also found that women developed strengths and resiliency. Women gather information, develop “environ-info,” and deliberatively weigh AK from health workers, family/friends' advice, and their own experiences. Over multiple iterations of this process, they build self-reliance and resilience.