Return to work for individuals with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disease: Dichotomous outcome variable or personally-constructed narrative challenge?

Abstract

Advances in the management of HIV disease have increasingly focused attention on the possibilities of return to employment for individuals with HIV disease. However whilst mortality has decreased and life expectancies have lengthened, life for the individual with HIV remains both complex and unpredictable. This article explores the notion of return to work as narrative theme. A case study highlighting the narrative nature of how return to work might be conceptualised by the HIV positive individual is presented; ahead of a brief discussion as to how the lived reality of combination therapy may impact upon the individual's conceptualisation of employment in the broader context of their life story.