A narrative systematic review of quantitative and qualitative evidence on the impacts of HIV on women living with HIV and their families in developing countries

Abstract Background HIV infections among women cause a range of detrimental impacts on the affected women and their families. This review seeks to understand what impacts are associated with living with HIV in women and their families; and how the identified impacts relate to each other. Methods A systematic review of literature was conducted to identify the impacts of HIV on women and their families in developing countries. We conducted a systematic search of literatures published up to September 2018 in the following databases: Medline, PsycINFO, CINAL, Emcare, Scopus and ProQuest. Articles were included if they were published in English language, with full text available, in developing countries, involving married and non-married women age 15 years and above with HIV and focusing on the impacts of HIV on women and their families. Critical appraisal tools developed by Joana Briggs Institute (JBI) were used to assess methodological quality of the studies and thematic narrative synthesis was used to analyse the findings of the included articles. Results A total of 20 articles were included in the review. The review indicated that HIV infections among women living with HIV (WLHIV) caused numerous negative impacts on WLHIV and their families. They included (i) psychological impacts, (ii) poor physical health and intimate partner violence, (iii) social impacts such as stigma and discrimination, disruption of children’s social life and education, family separation and child-parent conflict, and (iv) economic impacts including loss of job and increased family health expenditure leading to poor family economic condition, the sale of family assets, food insecurity and hunger and poverty. Conclusions The findings indicate the need for interventions that address among impacts, psychological, stigma and discrimination and economic consequences of HIV facing WLHIV and their families in developing countries.