Thesis (MCur.) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / The purpose of this study was to determine the experiences of students in disclosing their HIV-positive status at the University of Limpopo, Turfloop Campus. A qualitative, descriptive, phenomenological design was used to explore, describe, and understand the experiences of the students with regard to the disclosure of their HIV-positive status. A group of 20 students who belonged to the support group were purposively sampled. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for data collection until saturation was reached. Data analysis was conducted according to Techs open-coding method. The study highlights the potential factors that might hinder access to HIV prevention, management, care, and support programmes. The findings reveal that there is a marked societal shift in the perception and understanding of HIV, resulting in disclosure being a less difficult responsibility. However, rejection by sexual partners has also been revealed. This rejection is one of the negative consequences that might hamper future disclosure. It is recommended that counsellors should be highly skilled in counselling HIV-positive people, especially about issues of disclosure. An HIV disclosure model will greatly support the work of these counsellors.

Masters of Public Health - see Magister Public Health / With a prevalence of 14.3% among the 15-49 years age group, HIV/AIDS still constitutes a significant challenge in Zambia. In order to respond to the impact of HIV/AIDS within the workplace, government ministries have developed HIV-focused workplace policies and programmes that provide HIV/AIDS services. However, despite their availability, the number of employees accessing the services, especially those targetting HIV positive workers remains low. The fear (either perceived or real) of disclosing an HIV positive status is one likely reason for the low uptake of services. HIV-positive status disclosure is an important public health goal as it can create opportunities for an individual to access information and social and medical support, and this will affect career and workload related decisions. This exploratory, qualitative study aims to identify and describe the HIV-disclosure experiences of 12 openly HIV-positive Zambian public sector workers living in Lusaka and working in four Zambian Ministries. Both male and female public sector workers were interviewed. The participants’ experiences of disclosing their HIV positive status in the workplace were explored in depth in this study. With the aim of providing those responsible for overseeing and managing the Zambian public sector HIV workplace initiatives with some practical recommendations regarding the disclosure support needed by HIV-positive public sector workers. The study found that whilst participants had an initial fear of disclosing their HIVpositive status in the workplace, their HIV disclosure actually proved to be very beneficial. Not only did it allow their health-related needs (such as accessing medication and visiting a doctor) to be met, but their disclosure also encouraged others to also disclose their status. The recommendations are are aimed at creating a supportive working environment for people living with HIV within the Zambian public service, and offering suggestions to their managers on how best to support the process of disclosure amongst their staff.

Thesis (M.Sc.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Purpose of the study The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of couples on disclosure of their HIV-positive status to each other. Research methodology Qualitative, Phenomenology, exploratory descriptive and contextual research was conducted to identify the experiences and to determine the strategies that address non-disclosure of couples on their HIV-positive status. The population comprised 12 participants (six (6) couples). Purposive sampling was used to select eight (8) participants (four (4) couples) who participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data until data saturation was reached. Study findings Data were analysed using Tesch’s open-coding method. Five themes emerged, namely, fear of being HIV-positive, disclosure of HIV-positive status is a difficult process, acceptance of HIV-positive status, relations between partners post knowledge of HIV-positive results and encouragement pertaining to disclosure of HIV-positive status. Strategies were developed to address the experiences identified. Recommendations were made for the Department of Health, clinic staff, future researchers, patients and community members. Conclusion Although couples disclosed their status to one another disclosure was found to be a difficult process. Acceptance of HIV status was also found to be one of the challenges that led to delayed disclosure of the status. Support system from both family and community is a very important factor which might increase HIV status acceptance and disclosure from couples. Keywords: Couples, experiences, disclosure, HIV-positive status.

Disclosure of a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive status is vital for prevention and promotion of the couple‟s health. The study aimed to investigate the perceived barriers of pregnant women diagnosed as HIV positive towards disclosure of their HIV status to their partners in the Capricorn District, Limpopo Province. Recommendations were formulated to enhance the self-efficacy. A quantitative, explorative, descriptive cross-sectional design and the Health Belief Model theory was used. Non-probability, convenience sampling utilised and 170 respondents aged 18-40 years participated in the study. A questionnaire was used to collect data and the SSPS version 24.0 was utilised to analyse data. Overall, 87.64% respondents received disclosure education and 80% disclosed their status to their partners. Reasons for non-disclosure included fear of rejection, violent behaviour, blame and stigmatisation by partners. Health care workers should provide pregnant women with information on preventive strategies to enhance disclosure of HIV status. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)