Living with HIV in the Philippines: Email 589: Looking for Participants

Greetings Pozziepinoy!

My name is XXX, and I am emailing you on behalf of my two other group mates, XXX and XXX. We are senior undergraduate students currently enrolled in the Psychology program of the Ateneo de Manila University.

I am writing this because we are currently doing our undergraduate thesis. During the course of our planning sessions, we decided to study the sexual scripts of people living with HIV/AIDS. This topic has never been explored in depth in the Philippine context. Based on statistics, the incidence of HIV/AIDS worldwide is decreasing except for a few countries of which the Philippines is part. Therefore we see it's immediate importance and relevance knowing that this may help in alleviating the epidemic.

Though we have gathered enough research to back our study up, we have encountered a minor setback as there has only been a minority of people willing to disclose relevant information that may be of assistance to our research. It was with great relief that we stumbled upon your website. We admire you for your courage to stand up and give awareness about this pressing issue. We humbly ask for your help in seeking participants that are willing to take part in our thesis study. We are looking for participants who have tested positive with HIV/AIDS and are willing to divulge their sexual scripts. Rest assured, that their identities and information will remain anonymous and confidential. We believe that we share the same vision in giving awareness about this issue and we hope that with your help, we may accomplish the goal that we have set for.

We are open to any insights, suggestions and comments that you think might prove useful in our investigation. Any advice that you can give will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and we hope for a favorable response to this request!

Best Regards,
XXX

POZZIEPINOY’S RESPONSE

Hi XXX.

Thank you for your email.

With regards to your letter, I decided to just post it here so that my readers can decide if they want to participate in your study. I am glad that you are undertaking this not only as part of your requirement for graduation, but as another study which others can use and research on about the awareness of the virus and the PLHIV's here in our country.

To all my readers, I understand that this will be a huge decision but we should do our part in telling our stories, to make testimonials to prove that it is real, that HIV do really exists and is affecting people all over the country.

If you want to be a participant, you can send me a text message at 0916-286-2066.

Stay healthy,

Pozziepinoy