PEREIRA, Marco    CANAVARRO, Maria Cristina. Vulnerabilidade de género e outras dimensões de influência na adaptação ao VIH/SIDA e à gravidez e maternidade. []. , 25, 3, pp.503-515. ISSN 0870-8231.

The contextual and developmental models (Belsky, 1984, 1999; Belsky & Jafee, 2006; Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998) comprehend the development and individual behaviours throughout an ecological approach, where the individual, as a system or member of a system, is able to influence and be influenced by other systems. These approaches allow a comprehension of adjustment to pregnancy and to the birth of a child and, in certain ways, facilitate the conceptualizations of co-occurrence and interactions between different contexts of gender vulnerability associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection. The aim of this study was to assess the contexts of influence (socio-demographic; related with HIV infection and associated with pregnancy and motherhood) in the adjustment of HIV-positive pregnant women. The sample comprises 31 HIV-infected pregnant women. Data were obtained using a semi-structured interview; medical and social grids; and self-reported questionnaires to assess adjustment: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS -Cohen et al., 1983); Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI -Derogatis, 1983) and Emotional Reactivity Scale (EAS - Carlsson et al., 1989). Results showed the role of marital status (being single), race/ethnic (being black), mode of transmission (sexual transmission) and planning of pregnancy (non-planned) as significant and influent determinants in a poorer adjustment to pregnancy of HIV-infected women. Specifically, these results highlight the importance of considering these determinants in the development of specific psychological interventions in the context of pregnancy and HIV-infection. Special attention must be given to the cultural considerations and differential vulnerabilities to HIV infection (biological; psychosocial, behavioural; and relational).

: Pregnancy; HIV/AIDS; contexts of influence; adjustment; gender.

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