Proefschrift--Utrecht. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1958.

Report (Ed. D.)--Teachers College. / Issued also on microfilm. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1958.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves 136-143.

Proefschrift--Utrecht. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Report (Ed. D.)--Teachers College. / Issued also on microfilm. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-73)

Background: The prevalence of cases of HIV among children below the ages of 15 years continues to increase and majority of these children acquired the infection through mother-to-child transmission. Methodology: The main objectives of the study were to explore the perceptions of local women regarding the PMTCT program, to evaluate the strength of these perceptions and to make recommendations. A qualitative method was used involving a number of focus group discussions among antenatal clinic attendees in the 27 primary health care clinics in Qwa-Qwa, Free State province of South Africa. Findings: The findings were organised under eight major themes: (1) Knowledge of the program -where the participants expressed high knowledge about the PMTCT program as they knew how MTCT of HIV occurs and how it can be prevented, (2) Perceived concerns about the program- which were mainly fear of resistance to ARVs, fear of stopping the treatment after delivery, potential for high numbers of orphans, depression and suicide when HIV result is positive, the fear of the family neglecting the baby if the mothers dies, the perception that the program cares for only the babies and not their mother, (3)Readiness to do HIV test- where majority of the participants said it was difficult doing the HIV test due to fear of positive result, (4) Ease of taking ARVs- Difficulty in taking the ARVs due to fear of resistance and harmful side effects, (5) Relationship with clinic staff- a majority of the participants were happy with their relationship with the clinic staff, (6) Reactions expected from family members when program advice is followed- more than half of the participants expected negative reactions from family members if the program advice is followed because of the negative attitudes of their male partners and the elders’ of the resistance to change from their cultural beliefs, (7) Advantages of the program- according to the focus group participants, the advantages of the program include the knowledge gained about HIV, modes of MTCT of HIV and how to prevent MTCT of HIV. Other advantages mentioned were prevention of MTCT of HIV, pre-test counselling reducing the fear of doing HIV test, knowing one’s HIV status as well as the potential of the program to have positive change on the cultural beliefs of the people, and lastly (8)How they felt being part of the program- where all the participants said they were excited . Conclusions: The findings were similar to those of other studies in many respects. Recommendations: The recommendations were community and family HIV/AIDS education and their involvement in the PMTCT program in other to reduce misconceptions about the disease, and stigmatization against the women in the program. Other recommendations include: the concept of PMTCT-plus which provides ongoing support and treatment for the mothers, babies and infected family members; integration of innovative health education and culturally appropriate interventions into the program; provision of adequate maternity leaves to women in the PMTCT program as well as full integration of the PMTCT program into the District Health System (DHS) as part of the “horizontal” delivered package.

M.A. / In 1994 a landmark conference, the International Conference on Population and Development, took place during which the importance of family planning was clearly underlined. In spite of the importance with which this issue is viewed by health departments around the world seventy-five million unintended pregnancies occur around the world every year. Several factors may contribute to this multi-faceted problem. The difference between clients’ expected family planning services and the extent to which these clients’ expectations are met is one such factor. Improving family planning service delivery in line with clients’ expectations is essential to putting clients first. To do so, clients’ perspectives on family planning service delivery should be assessed. Whilst accompanying family planning students at the Johannesburg Metropolitan Health Department, the researcher encountered clients who expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of interpersonal skills and information provided by service providers. Despite the Department of Health’s policies that are in place for the provision of family planning services the researcher became aware of women who considered becoming family planning clients and would then discontinue utilising services because their expectations of the service delivery were not met.