IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v41y1995i2p173-180.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

'Doing the right thing': The symbolic meanings and experiences of having an HIV antibody test

Author

Listed:
  • Lupton, Deborah
  • Mccarthy, Sophie
  • Chapman, Simon

Abstract

Very few studies have been undertaken to explore in depth the reasons why individuals seek HIV antibody testing. This paper discusses the socio-cultural meanings surrounding the HIV antibody test, using the findings from a qualitative study directed at understanding why 'low risk' individuals make the decision to have an HIV test, their experiences of testing and their use of the result, especially in negotiating sexual relationships. It is concluded that the less obvious reasons for taking the test include pressure from parents or lovers, as a symbolic closure or commencement of a sexual relationship, the discourse of mutuality, the privileging of 'knowledge' and notions of responsibility and purity. Implications for AIDS education programs and policy are addressed.

Suggested Citation

  • Lupton, Deborah & Mccarthy, Sophie & Chapman, Simon, 1995. "'Doing the right thing': The symbolic meanings and experiences of having an HIV antibody test," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 173-180, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:41:y:1995:i:2:p:173-180
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(94)00317-M
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Werner-Lin, Allison & Forbes Shepherd, Rowan & Young, Jennifer L. & Wilsnack, Catherine & Merrill, Shana L. & Greene, Mark H. & Khincha, Payal P., 2022. "Embodied risk for families with Li-Fraumeni syndrome: Like electricity through my body," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:41:y:1995:i:2:p:173-180. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.