April 28, 1997
First national study released on families living with HIV/AIDS
TORONTO -The findings of the first national study on how families cope with HIV/AIDS entitled: Children Born to Mothers with HIV: Psychosocial Issues for Families in Canada Living with HIV/AIDS will be presented tomorrow:
When: 11 a.m., Tuesday, April 29, 1997
Where: Main Auditorium
First Floor, Elm Wing
The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
Speakers include co-investigators of the study: Robyn Salter Goldie, Dale DeMatteo, Dr. Susan M. King, The Hospital for Sick Children; Gloria Aykroyd, St. Joseph's Hospital, London, Ontario; Lori Sheckter, B.C.'s Children's Hospital, Vancouver, B.C. and Shari Fecht gives a parent's perspective on the study.
In addition, parents of three of the families involved in the study plan to attend and will be available to meet with the press.
Background:
Despite widespread reporting on AIDS - often described as the plague disease of the late 20th century - little attention has been paid to a growing cause for concern: the number of families where one or more members is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Ninety-one of these families, who daily confront sickness, physical and mental disability, and the threat of death, are the subject of a national coast-to-coast study on the impact of HIV/AIDS on families with young children. All biological mothers in the study were HIV-positive while 63 per cent of the fathers and almost 30 per cent of the children were also infected.
The cross-Canada study - funded by the AIDS Care, Treatment and Support Unit of Health Canada and the first of its kind - highlights parent's concerns, the effects of HIV/AIDS on family relationships, types of stress and how parents cope, the role of spirituality, and the experiences families in Canada have had as a result of living with HIV/AIDS.
Across the country, the difficult and profound questions that families face are similar.
- Who cares for the family when a parent is too ill to carry on?
- Who will care for surviving children if parents succumb?
- How can children be prepared psychologically for the future?
- Is it possible to sustain some degree of normalcy in the face of this life-threatening illness?
- When time is limited, how is it best spent?
Public Affairs
The Hospital for Sick Children
555 University Avenue
Suite 1742, Public Affairs, First floor Atrium
Toronto,
ON
M5G 1X8
Canada
Phone: 416-813-5058
Fax: 416-813-5328