Thesis (M.A. (Social work)) --University of Limpopo, 2007 / The impact of AIDS has an overwhelming effect on women as they are unable to fulfill their multiple roles. For many women, a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS carries a profound physical, psychological and social burden. Gender inequities, poverty and a growing prevalence of HIV in developing countries have increased the vulnerability of women to HIV infection. Women’s lack of social and economic independence and their low status in their marital households also increase their vulnerability to HIV. They are susceptible to stigma and discrimination when they are identified as being HIV-positive. Negative social responses in these situations may result in them being rejected by their families and denied access to resources. A qualitative exploratory-descriptive study was conducted with fifty six women living with HIV/AIDS (WLWHA) in the Mankweng area and surrounding villages. Six focus groups interviews were conducted to elicit information about their experiences and perceptions on the way families, communities, health and social service professions treat them. A quantitative approach was also used to indicate the number of participants who shared similar views on a particular issue. The striking feature about the participants’ explanation of HIV and AIDS is that, they associated HIV/AIDS with makgoma (contaminations). The participants also reported that dealing with the consequences of the disease is a huge challenge. They also face challenges in managing their illness. Their problems are compounded by accusations from their partners, family members and the community who blame them for the infection. This creates stress for them that may be detrimental to their physical and emotional health. The participants freely expressed views on HIV/AIDS, aspects that are positive and unsupportive of people living with HIV/AIDS. They shared their physical, social, psychological, cultural and economical challenges. The findings also revealed that an overwhelming number (89%) of WLWHA are struggling with negotiating for condom use. Some of their partners are reluctant to use condoms thus, risking re-infection that is detrimental to their health. The participants’ plea is for the health and social service professionals to become sensitive and compassionate towards them. / Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)

Thesis (M.A. (Social Work)) -- Univesity of Limpopo, 2012 / Refer to document

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The aim of the study was to explore the impact of HIV/AIDS on service delivery in Polokwane Municipality as an organisation and the mechanisms used to implement the HIV/AIDS policies and programmes. The researcher conducted the study in the city of Polokwane under the Capricorn District Municipality in the Limpopo Province. For this study, information was gathered from both municipal employees and managers in Polokwane municipality. The respondents confirmed that the organisation has on HIV/AIDS policy in place and its key provision serves to create a non-discriminatory working environment. They further acknowledged the fact that HIV/AIDS is a concern to the Polokwane municipal workforce and impacts negatively on service delivery that is the reason that led to the establishment of the EAP office. HIV/AIDS is still perceived as a very sensitive issue and employees are not willing to communicate about their status due to fear of being stigmatised. The Municipality should continue facilitation of educational awareness on employee’s health and wellness, and encourage their employees to utilise the office of the employee assistance programmes

M.Tech. Business Administration. Business School.

This research study explored the experiences of HIV positive women with particular reference to their challenges, coping and survival strategies after an HIV positive diagnosis. A review of literature revealed that research on the lived experiences of South African women with HIV/AIDS is limited. The aim of this study was to explore the narratives of women with HIV/AIDS in a designated health-care setting in KZN. Social constructionism and ecosystems approaches were adopted as guiding frameworks for the study. Fifteen HIV positive women were sampled using, purposive and availability sampling. Qualitative data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The pertinent themes were identified and analyzed accordingly. Some HIV positive women experienced challenges in dealing with their HIV diagnosis which ranged from being stigmatized, rejected, or socially isolated, while some received support and acceptance from their environment. The life prolonging effect of ART has allowed HIV infected women to implement coping and survival strategies in order to reduce HIV/AIDS fatigue. Immersion in spirituality and 'reaching out' were some of the survival strategies adopted by HIV infected women in this study. Micro, Mezzo, and Macro recommendations were made with regard to provision of appropriate services for HIV positive women. The study may be of value to service providers as it may enlighten them on the various experiences (whether challenging, positive, or adaptive) of women with HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, HIV positive women may benefit from knowing that they are not alone in this fight against the dreaded disease. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

This study investigated the differences and similarities in bereavement due to HIV/AIDS and bereavement due to other forms of death. The participants comprised of nine (9) mothers and two (2) fathers of deceased children, varying in age from eight (8) months to twenty (20) years. A single, unstructured interview was used to collect the data. Grounded theory was utilised in the analysis of the qualitative data. Comparisons were drawn between HIV/AIDS and non- HIV /AIDS related bereavement. The findings indicate a difference in the experience of HIV/AIDS related bereavement and non-HIV/AIDS related bereavement. Stigma played a significant negative role in the experiences of those parents /caregivers whose children had died from HIV/AIDS. In addition, parents/caregivers experienced significant feelings of responsibility for their child 's infection although the child had not contracted the disease from the parent. The implications and applications of this study are twofold . Firstly, a better understanding of the bereavement process can result in important and innovative recommendations being implemented in order to refine existing HIV/AIDS intervention programmes or develop new ones. And, secondly, it can result in a more refined approach to the care and comfort that is currently being provided for HIV/AIDS patients and terminally ill patients and their families. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

The goal of this study was to explore the experiences of children who were orphaned on account of HIV and AIDS as well as the experiences of their caregivers, thereby improving the knowledge base of practitioners working with children and their caregivers.This qualitative study was designed to answer the following research questions: • What are the experiences of children orphaned on account of HIV and AIDS? • What consequences does the HIV and AIDS pandemic have on children? • How do children cope with AIDS-related loss and grief? • What are the caregiver’s roles, experiences and perceptions regarding children orphaned on the account of HIV and AIDS? • What resources and support systems are available to caregivers in fulfilling their roles in relation to children? The social ecological model provided the theoretical framework for this study. Qualitative data was collected through personal interviews with eleven children and ten caregivers. This was supported by observational visits to the homes of the participants and secondary analysis of case files. The major themes that emerged were the phenomenon of absent fathers and the dominant role that women play. The caregivers had to keep their grief to themselves and more urgent stressors took priority in their lives. Grief was often held in abeyance as the caregivers had to focus on daily survival needs. Poverty overshadowed the lives of all the participants and a large portion of the South African population. Despite this the resilience on the part of the child participants was remarkable. Emanating from these themes, recommendations for social work practice and implications for future research are proposed. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

This thesis investigates the cultural and social production of AIDS in popular discourse, particularly film and mass media, and offers a critical consideration of the ways in which the proliferation and dispersion of these discourses function in our current episteme to rearticulate and reinscribe traditional value systems of sexuality, familialism, and nationalism. Taking the lead of the work of Michel Foucault on the body in various historical regimes, the author here will posit a theoretical analysis of the "discursive formation" of AIDS, how the body of AIDS is put into discourse, to provide a matrix for establishing the various disciplinary and regulatory apparatuses structuring the epidemic--that is, the affirmation of certain kinds of pleasures and bodies and the strategic circumvention of other pleasures and bodies. Under what the author refers to as the cultural logic of dis-ease, the investigations that follow will be animated by the central question: Whose pleasure and/or power is served by these representations and discourses of the body of AIDS in popular cultural practices?

This thesis explores the problem of sexual behaviour change in a country which has the largest number of people living with HIV in the world. Despite awareness of HIV, and knowledge of protective behaviours, many young South Africans still engage in risky sexual practices, exposing themselves to risk of HIV infection. This lack of behaviour change by people who know the risks involved is the focus of this thesis. I begin by developing a critique of the dominant behaviour change theories which underpin HIV and AIDS interventions, and the way in which they conceptualise the relationship between the individual and society. These theories assume a universal, rational individual who engages in decision-making before action, or is prevented by problematic factors of ‘context’ (e.g. poverty, culture, gender dynamics) from engaging in appropriate protective health decisions. This conceptualisation of behaviour is inadequate in understanding the problem of behaviour change. Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), with its roots in the theories of Marx, Engels, Vygotsky and Leontiev, enables a different gaze on the problem of behaviour change, shifting the primary focus from cognition to activity. This provides an alternative dialectical conceptualisation of the relationship between the individual and society. In this thesis I articulate and extend the methodology inherent in CHAT. In a study conducted in a rural area in South Africa I recruited qualitative research processes to explore the cultural-historical context of early sexual experiences leading to intercourse; and the participants’ experiences of sexual activity in relation to HIV and AIDS. The conceptual and methodological tools inherent in CHAT enabled the production of the context of sexual activity. The focus on sexual activity as the central object unit and the analysis of the activity system illuminated the activity of sex as a social practice, produced and enacted within particular interpersonal, social and historical dynamics. Through an historical and current contextualisation of sexual activity CHAT-based analysis of the data enabled an articulation of contradictions and turbulence within the activity system. The problem of a lack of behaviour change is understood through this production of context. Activity system analysis revealed how the introduction of the injectable contraceptive gendered the division of labour in sexual activity. An analysis of the relationship between the subject and the object of the activity system revealed a phalocentric identity investment as an outcome of sexual activity. This analysis also illustrated the relative invisibility of HIV compared to pregnancy as a negative outcome of sexual activity. These dynamics of the activity system structure power and resistance to change in the interaction. By accounting for the status of the activity system this analysis facilitated an understanding of a lack of behaviour change in response to HIV and AIDS. This research process forms the basis for a tentative proposal for intervention using the CHAT-based Change Laboratory approach. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

Notwithstanding a myriad of interventions put in place over three decades to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the incidence and prevalence are still unacceptably high in southern Africa. There is a need to broaden the HIV/AIDS research agenda by exploring the nuanced socio-cultural contexts within which mundane social and sexual encounters occur. The thesis explored the sexual practices and cultural meanings of seventy rural Zimbabwean men and women using a social constructionist approach informed by the voice-relational methodology. Findings of the study show that the construction of meaning around HIV/AIDS is subjective and influenced by social contestations around space, gender, type of relationship as well as the social sanctions or support mechanisms available at a particular moment. Some of the cultural factors that facilitate the spread of HIV include gender roles that disapprove of sexual concurrency for women but tolerate this practice among men. The study also highlighted the vulnerability of young women, in secretive relationships, to sexual violence perpetrated by their male partners, lack of social support for women who participate in socially disapproved practices including pre-marital sex, and involvement in commercial sexual activities. Prevention efforts should be located in people’s experiences and interpretation of their lifeworlds, paying particular attention to the language people use to construct meaning around the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The interventions must navigate structural, spatial, personal, and familial contestations for relevance and effectiveness. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.