Beyond the Lazarus effect: social impacts of antiretroviral treatment on patients' family members in western Uganda

Amy Kaler, University of Alberta

We use surveys and interviews with household members of 138 rural Ugandans who began antiretroviral treatment in 2006/07 to assess the social impacts of treatment beyond the person on antiretrovirals (POA), encompassing the experiences of family members and others intimately connected to him/her. This study is unique in asking people to describe the impact of family members' treatment, rather than relying on self-report from POAs; and is among the first to assess treatment from a social, as distinct from medical or demographic, perspective. We focus on three domains: livelihood, household ecology and emotional welfare. Our surveys suggest that the impact of treatment is almost uniformly positive in these domains, but interviews provide a more complex account of what happens when a POA recovers. Interviews suggest that some of the changes wrought by AIDS on families are lasting, and continue to influence individual and family well-being, even after treatment is successful.