Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Persons Living with HIV in Western Washington: Examining Lived Experiences of Social Distancing Stress, Personal Buffers, and Mental Health.

Pandemic-related stressors may disproportionately affect the mental health of people with HIV (PWH). Stratified, purposive sampling was used to recruit 24 PWH who participated in a quantitative survey on COVID-19 experiences for in-depth interviews (IDIs). IDIs were conducted by Zoom, audio recorded and transcribed.