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Across Serostatus: a Study of Subjugation and Resistance in Older Gay Men’s Experiences Navigating Health Care

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Abstract

Despite the recognition of older gay men’s unique health needs, the health care experiences of this group have seldom been explored empirically. Accordingly, in this qualitative study, we utilize a poststructuralist approach to grounded theory known as situational analysis to examine older gay men’s experiences with health care. Specifically, we draw on interviews with 27 gay men ages 50 and over, 16 of whom disclosed being HIV-positive at the time of recruitment, to consider this group’s interactions with formal health systems. We analyze how processes of subjugation and resistance are reflected in older gay men’s narrative accounts of navigating health care, and in this process, highlight the role of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in constructing health care as a site of subjugation and resistance for these men. We inductively examine discourses, interpretations of medical practices, and constructions of aging gay bodies that together reflect the historical and contemporary role of HIV/AIDS in shaping present day systems of heath care for older gay men. We conclude the paper with implications for research and policy in the area of gay aging, including the need for specialized psychosocial services targeting the needs of older gay men in health systems.

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Funding

Hannah Kia received funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (#336906) to conduct the research on which the current manuscript is based.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Hannah Kia, Daniel Grace, Carol Strike & Lori E. Ross

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  1. Hannah Kia
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  2. Daniel Grace
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  3. Carol Strike
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  4. Lori E. Ross
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Correspondence to Hannah Kia.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Toronto’s HIV Research Ethics Board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Of note, the study underwent review and approval by the University of Toronto’s HIV Research Ethics Board (#33523) prior to the start of participant recruitment.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

In this paper, serostatus refers specifically to HIV status.

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Kia, H., Grace, D., Strike, C. et al. Across Serostatus: a Study of Subjugation and Resistance in Older Gay Men’s Experiences Navigating Health Care. Sex Res Soc Policy 16, 121–133 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-018-0344-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-018-0344-y

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