Biographical disruption, HIV/AIDS and chronic poverty

The concept of biographical disruption speaks about refers to the ontological uncertainty and questioning that accompanies the suffering experienced when one is living with a serious or chronic illness. Most studies on biographical disruption have been conducted among Western individuals. The few qualitative illness studies among individuals living in chronic poverty and/or other debilitating social circumstances indicate that such individuals sometimes experience the phenomenon of biographical disruption differently. This is evident in a Grahamstown biographical study on six women living with and affected by AIDS and generational poverty. This finding echoes other empirical studies on women living with HIV/AIDS and chronic poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, India and the USA.