AIDS and families: Cultural, psychosocial, and functional impacts

AIDS has touched the nation’s families on a number of levels. More than a decade into the epidemic, it is clear that the cultural, psychosocial, and functional impact of AIDS stretches beyond that on our traditional concept of kin to a broader view of family. At the cultural level AIDS has challenged our notions of who is and functions as a family, while also shaping our behaviors and language. Within families, the psychosocial impact of a family member having a stigmatized illness generates a range of emotional responses. While certain of these responses are common to all families, they will also vary by the family constellation affected. At the functional level we see an illness in which persons other than kin often play important caregiving roles. In all family types family caregiving for persons with AIDS brings about role reconfiguration, financial, and other impacts.