Thesis (MSW(Social Work))-University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

The aim of this study was to investigate met and unmet palliative care needs for people living with HIV/AIDS in selected areas in Rwanda. The achieve this aim, the study, firstly, identified the palliative care needs of people living with HIV/AIDS, secondly, it identified the health care services available to meet these needs, and thirdly, it determined the extent to which palliative care needs were met.

The study sought to determine what palliative care services were provided to offenders at Medium B correctional center, which is located at Durban Management Area. It identified the perceptions of offender-patients about the services they received. The study also identified challenges that staff and offender-volunteer caregivers faced in rendering services within a correctional context in South Africa. The sample consisted of three stakeholders, namely, offender-patients who were terminally ill with AIDS at the prison hospital, staff and offender volunteer caregivers. The methods of data collection comprised of content analysis, semi-structured interviews with offender-patients and focus group discussions with staff and offender volunteer caregivers. The study revealed that efforts were made by the Department of Correctional Services to provide services to terminally ill AIDS patients. Legislation and policy frameworks were consistently being developed by the Department to meet the needs of patients and to keep abreast with international best practices. Some services were in accordance with the theoretical framework of palliative care. However, many challenges were experienced because of the contextual constraints in which the services were being rendered. Recommendations to improve the delivery of services were made by all participants in the study. The study concludes with the recommendations by the researcher and suggestions for future research. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

The aim of this study was to investigate met and unmet palliative care needs for people living with HIV/AIDS in selected areas in Rwanda. The achieve this aim, the study, firstly, identified the palliative care needs of people living with HIV/AIDS, secondly, it identified the health care services available to meet these needs, and thirdly, it determined the extent to which palliative care needs were met.

Thesis (MTech (Nursing))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008. / In South Africa the need for palliative care for the terminally ill is exacerbated by the upsurge of the HIV/AIDS epidemic resulting in more patients being in need of palliative care and the provision of effective pain management as part of providing them with palliative care. Effective pain management requires sound knowledge of the pathophysiology of pain and its treatment. Research found the attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge of healthcare professionals regarding pain management impact significantly on how these professionals practice pain control measures of the terminally ill. Despite the increase in knowledge and technological advances people still die in pain. The upsurge of cancer and AIDS cases require that all nursing practitioners be competent to deliver palliative care. Effective pain management is an integral part of palliative care. South Africa has a nurse-driven health care system where Registered Nurses are expected to become competent in among other health care issues, to manage pain in the increasing numbers of terminally ill patients due to especially AIDS epidemic.

Thesis (MTech (Nursing))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009. / By the end of 2007 an estimated 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were living with HIV/AIDS. Of these, 1.8 million (33%) were children under the age of 15 years. The epidemic has left 11.6 million children orphaned by AIDS. Zimbabwe has an estimated population of 12 million people; its HIV infection rate amongst all adults was estimated at 33.7% in 2002, decreased to 15.1% in 2007: most likely due to extensive prevention campaigns that were held by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, in partnership with other stakeholders. Despite the decrease in infection rate, 1.3 million people live with the HIV/AIDS and 140 000 have died. United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organisation (WHO) (2008) reported that of the 1.3 million people 120 000 were children and 1 million children had been orphaned due to AIDS in Zimbabwe. Only 3% of children living with HIV/AIDS were on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) due to lack of antiretroviral (ARV) paediatric formulations drugs. The purpose of the study is to determine what palliative care services are available for children diagnosed with AIDS in Harare, Zimbabwe and whether the services provided meet the palliative care needs of the children. The aims of the study are to: describe the palliative care services offered by the public health sector to children diagnosed with AIDS; describe the extent of palliative care services offered by NGOs sector to children diagnosed with AIDS; describe what children diagnosed with AIDS perceive as their care needs; and to compare the needs of the children with the services provided.

South African palliative care volunteer caregivers play a crucial role in caring for people living with HIV and Aids, but frequently do not receive the support and respect that they deserve. The current study explored the psychosocial challenges and coping mechanisms of palliative care volunteer caregivers for people living with HIV and Aids. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 24 participants who also filled in questionnaires. The aim was to explore their experiences, their challenges, and coping mechanisms. Although these volunteer caregivers shared many positive experiences, they also faced multiple challenges in the workplace, their personal lives, financial challenges as well as psychological and emotional ones. Despite these challenges, the caregivers showed only moderate levels of stress on the stress scale. Recommendations for overcoming these challenges were provided to caregivers, organisations and the Department of Health / Psychology / M. Sc. (Psychology)

Title: Exploring the lived experiences of nurses caring for the terminally ill patients with AIDS in selected wards in a level one district hospital. Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of nurses caring for dying patients with AIDS in the context of palliative care. Methodology: The study explored the meaning of caring and terminal illness and the lived experiences of nurses in the context of AIDS in palliative care. A constructivist paradigm underpinned this study. A qualitative research approach was used and Giorgi’s five steps of analysis were aligned to the Husserlian phenomenology method to make sense of the data. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with ten of the operational nurses who were caring for patients suffering from AIDS in the palliative care wards of a level one state-aided district hospital. These included professional nurses, enrolled nurses and enrolled nursing assistants. The interviews were audio-taped. Findings: The findings of the study were presented and discussed according to the two categories that emerged during the data analysis, namely, conceptualization of the core concepts of caring and terminal illness and the experiences of caring in the context of palliative care. Each of these categories had themes and sub-themes that were presented and discussed. The conceptualization of the core terms influenced the nurses’ actions, behaviors and opinions as they described their experiences of taking care of terminally ill patients who suffered from AIDS. The nurses’ lived experiences were conceptualized into three main themes: the social networking that enabled the nurses to collaborate with colleagues in the interdisciplinary teams and share knowledge, skills and support within the palliative care team to optimize patient outcomes; factors hindering the nurses abilities to provide quality care to their patients and the internal and external mechanisms that enabled the nurses to provide care within palliative care contexts despite the encountered challenges. Conclusion: Nurses are exposed to increasing work-load in the context of HIV/AIDS, particularly in the care of terminally ill patients suffering from AIDS as they deal with complex emotional aspects of the diseases. Routine exposure to suffering and death accustom the nurses to dealing with death, resulting in situations where they display lack of care and respect for the terminal patients. Therefore, the antecedents that alter the nurses’ level of caring augmented by the emotionally taxing contexts are an agenda that needs to be addressed in order to achieve emotional work through improved nurse-patient relationships. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

South African palliative care volunteer caregivers play a crucial role in caring for people living with HIV and Aids, but frequently do not receive the support and respect that they deserve. The current study explored the psychosocial challenges and coping mechanisms of palliative care volunteer caregivers for people living with HIV and Aids. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 24 participants who also filled in questionnaires. The aim was to explore their experiences, their challenges, and coping mechanisms. Although these volunteer caregivers shared many positive experiences, they also faced multiple challenges in the workplace, their personal lives, financial challenges as well as psychological and emotional ones. Despite these challenges, the caregivers showed only moderate levels of stress on the stress scale. Recommendations for overcoming these challenges were provided to caregivers, organisations and the Department of Health / Psychology / M. Sc. (Psychology)