Metasynthesis of qualitative research on living with HIV infection

Qualitative studies of people living with HIV infection are crucial for pro viding direction for practice anti research because they provide the emic p erspective. As more of these qualitative studies are conducted, researchers are challenged to develop ways to synthesize the findings for research and clinical practice. The purpose of fire metasynthesis described in this art icle mas to understand the experience of adults living with HIV infection a s described in published research. Findings from the studies were categoriz ed into six overarching metaphors: (a) Finding meaning in HIV/AIDS, Cbl sha ttered meaning, (c) human connectedness, (d) focusing on the self, (e) nego tiating health care, and (f) dealing with stigma.