Buddhism and Transition: Thai Families Moving on When HIV/AIDS Interrupts Their Lives

This paper is a research study to answer: What can be done to assist Thai families whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS? This article will argue that Buddhist philosophy including the practice of meditation has not been acknowledged in English literatures previously in assisting families in difficult situations to ‘move on’. Methodology the first author, a Thai speaking nurse academic, was in Khon Kaen in North Eastern Thailand for one year and recruited five families to the study. We used Koch and Kralik (2006) participatory action research (PAR) methodology to answer the research question. The methodology comprised storytelling (one to one interviews) followed by PAR group sessions. Nine people were interviewed: five grandmothers, one grandfather, two aunts and one mother who is living with HIV. Together they care for six orphans. Results the most striking feature of participants’ response to incorporating the consequences of living with HIV in their lives was that they talked about their experiences as a family. We propose that these five families acted as a self-contained dynamic unit who came together as a newly constituted family through necessity but showed enormous resilience and unconditional love for its orphans. In this paper we theorize about families’ experiences we will draw on concepts of Thai philosophy and transition theories.  Conclusion we argue that this PAR approach was the most suitable for this inquiry. When researching alongside families, we worked toward building sustainable relationships that continued when we had left the field. Health care professionals can assist families impacted by HIV/AIDS through prevention of the situation reaching a crisis and they need to be aware of the shock impact when people are told they have HIV. While the five grandmothers are resilient and managing quite well at the moment; their socio-economic situation is precarious. Grandmothers need to be acknowledged for the key role they play in keeping these Thai families together.