This study aimed to understand the meaning and essence of the life experiences of uninfected women living with HIV-infected husbands.

This qualitative study adopted van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological method. Study participants were 8 females whose husband had been diagnosed with HIV for longer than 6 months, who had known about their husband's infection for more than 6 months, who were in a legal or common-law marriage and were living with their husbands at the time of interview for this study, and whose HIV antibody test results were negative. Data were collected from in-depth individual interviews with the participants from May to August 2016, and from related idiomatic expressions, literature, artwork, and phenomenological references.

The following essential themes were identified regarding the life experiences of uninfected women living with HIV-infected husbands: ‘experiencing an abrupt change that came out of the blue and caused confusion’, ‘accepting one's fate and making desperate efforts to maintain one's family’, ‘dealing with a heavy burden alone’, ‘experiencing the harsh reality and fearful future’, and ‘finding consolation in the ordeal’.

This study provided a holistic and in-depth understanding of the meaning and essence of the life experiences of uninfected women living with HIV-infected husbands. Thus, this study recognizes these unnoticed women as new nursing subjects. Further, the present findings can be used as important basic data for the development of nursing interventions and national policy guidelines for uninfected women living with HIV-infected husbands.