Life Course Definition

The Life Course Perspective offers a way of looking at health, not as disconnected stages unrelated to each other, but as an integrated continuum. This perspective suggests that the many facets of life contribute to health outcomes across the course of one’s life. It builds on public health and social science literature which highlight the influence of each stage of life on the next and shows how social, economic, and physical environments interact to have a profound impact on individual and community health.

Approach for Project

Key Components of the Roadmap:

  • Storytelling
    • Intergenerational— HIV & Aging, HIV across the life course
    • What did other women, like you, experience at this point in their care journey? What did their experiences look like?
    • Community input in the process of creating the roadmap is KEY
  • Science
    • Bring recommendations and guidelines to women about what care and treatment they should be receiving from their providers
  • Stories + Science
    • Bring stories and science together at each point in the life course to better equip women to take control of their health and the care they receive

Vision

A virtual tool that bridges stories and sciences to empower and educate persons living with HIV and those in their lives through lived experiences and resources to support optimal health and wellness over the life course.

 

 

Purpose

Details of Roadmap:

  • Detailing health and wellness over the life course, not just during the reproductive age years
  • Covers all aspects of healthcare: mental health, sexual health & education, reproductive health care, etc.

Guiding Questions for Development:

  • Over the life course,
    • What do we look for in care? (what do patients want?) (aspirational)
    • What do we expect in our care? (what do patients have as a basic expectation?) (minimum)
  • What does…
    • Treatment look like?
    • Contraception look like?
    • Sexual education look like?
    • Community feel like?

Audiences

Primary Audience:

  • Women & Girls*
*Women and Girls: Throughout this resource, women and girls is inclusive of women and girls of trans experience, transgender persons, and non-binary individuals. 
*This resource is for anyone who identifies with, relates to, or wants to learn more about the life course of a woman flourishing with HIV.

Additional audiences:

  • Persons living with HIV,
  • persons caring for those living with HIV,
  • care providers for persons living with HIV