In planning the conference the steering group recognised that it can be difficult for newly diagnosed people to participate in such an event when they may still be trying to gather information and adapt to living with HIV. This approach was based on experience from the Getting It Right conference held at Warwick University in 1999. To meet this need, a day of activities specifically for newly diagnosed people was planned for people who had been diagnosed in the past two years. Some flexibility was built into the application process to allow people who were very recently diagnosed to book after the closing date. There were also a couple of people who had been diagnosed over two years but who felt that they had not begun to deal with their diagnosis yet and still considered themselves ‘newly diagnosed’.
Thirty newly diagnosed people told us how they heard about the conference in their pre-conference diaries, with 44% stating Positive Nation as the source. A slightly higher percentage of newly diagnosed people heard via the website than in other participants. As some newly diagnosed people may only have contact with health professionals or social workers in the early stages of diagnosis it was surprising that these were not mentioned as a source.
Positive Nation |
HIV organisation |
Website |
Friend/word of mouth |
Advert or poster |
UKC |
Work |
44%(13) |
13% (4) |
13%(4) |
10% (3) |
10% (3) |
7% (2) |
3% (1) |
Sixty people booked to attend this day, 58 living with HIV and two partners, however 23 did not attend (22 living with HIV). These 22 people with HIV were written to in order to find out whether we could have done more to help them attend and their responses are included with others who did not attend. Thirty-six newly diagnosed people from around the UK attended the conference:
Where were newly diagnosed people living?
London |
The South |
The North |
The Midlands |
Scotland |
Not stated |
33% (12) |
28% (10) |
22% (8) |
11% (4) |
3% (1) |
3% (1) |
Age range
The youngest was 18 and the oldest 60 (the average age was 36).
Gender
Male 56% (20) Female 44% (16)
Ethnicity
White |
Black African |
Other non-white |
Not stated |
44% (16) |
44% (16) |
8% (3) |
4% (1) |
Sexuality
Heterosexual |
Gay |
Not stated |
58% (21) |
38% (14) |
4% (1) |
Employment
Not employed |
Full-time |
Part-time |
40% (14) |
30% (11) |
30% (11) |
Experiences
IDU |
Hepatitis B |
5% (2) |
3% (1) |
Move on to Making Newly Diagnosed Delegates Feel Welcome