AGING AND INFORMAL CAREGIVING TO PEOPLE WITH HIV AIDS/

This article reviews the growing research dealing with informal caregi vers to people with HIV infection or AIDS, focusing particularly on th e intersection of this work with research on aging. It contrasts AIDS caregiving with what is known about caregiving in general, which is of ten associated with caring for a frail older person. This comparison p oints to a scholarly literature in which aging, gender, generational d ifferences, and life-course issues have been a central concern. In add ition, using data from the UCSF Care Study, this article presents some results from analyses concerned specifically with the interpretation of age-related effects and caregiving. It emphasizes the diversity amo ng AIDS caregivers, who may be friends, partners, or family relatives, and the diversity of their experiences with caregiving, loss, and agi ng. It also outlines important methodological and conceptual links bet ween a life-course perspective on aging and AIDS caregiving and sugges ts how each scholarly concern may inform the other.