THE REALITY OF ELDERLY PEOPLE LIVING WITH AIDS IN BRAZIL: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Introduction – The HIV/AIDS epidemic killed millions of people around the world before the development of treatments. Nowadays, the diagnosis is no longer a death sentence and the number of elderly people living with the disease has grown, either because they caught it at a young age and survived, or as a result of late contamination. Objective – Verify the scientific knowledge produced regarding society’s point of view, healthcare workers’ point of view, and overall, the elderly’s point of view of its own perspective of positive serology for HIV, besides analyzing the adhesion for the antiretroviral treatment. Methods - This is an integrative literature review for which the consulted databases were Virtual Health Library (VHL) and Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement (CSLSI).  Results – Initially, a total of 127 texts were found, from which 10 articles were selected for analysis, divided into 3 categories: Society and Healthcare Workers’ Point of View; Elderly People’s Point of View; Treating the Elderly Living with HIV/AIDS Conclusion -  From the findings, it was concluded that elderly people with HIV are more vulnerable, because they do not get the necessary attention from society and healthcare workers, contributing to a late diagnosis, which affects treatment adhesion.