Abstract

Hope is an essential element for quality of life and is an important dimension in responding to a life-threatening illness. The absence of hope has profound effects on the psychological well-being, response to therapy, and recovery of ill persons. With all the unique and debilitating problems associated with AIDS, some people living with AIDS still seem to hope. How do hope and AIDS relate? Hope in this study was viewed as a multi-dimensional construct. Theological, philosophical, and psychological perspectives of hope were used to form a conceptual framework that guided the study of the phenomenon of human hoping, its conditions, and how it operates for persons living with AIDS. Two categories were formulated based on the distinctions "I hope that" and "I hope," with the former indicating hope or desire for something specific, and the latter indicating a more global notion of hope called fundamental hope. One can fundamentally hope for transcendence, peace, life and self-realization. Five homosexual males living with AIDS, ages 33-42, their significant others, and a hospice nurse participated in semi-structured interviews over a four month period. Participant's emotional states and hopefulness were tracked over time by the use of an adjective checklist and a hope scale, which complemented the qualitative data. Life review facilitated fundamental hoping for the participants living with AIDS, as did involvement with a caring other. Caring was said to occur if the person living with AIDS were able to both receive care and give care. Other factors that inspire hoping as well as those that challenge hoping were revealed. A conceptual framework of hope and AIDS was developed with suggestions for those who care for persons living with AIDS