Thesis in English, Annexure E: Consent form (leaf 81) as well as KABP Survey Questionnaire (leaves 87-91) in English and SiSwati. / The purpose of the study was to assess knowledge, explore attitudes and determine practices of breastfeeding mothers living with HIV regarding post-natal PMTCT interventions and services. The study was quantitative and descriptive in nature, utilising a retrospective cohort design. The study sample included breastfeeding mothers living with HIV, who attended the King Sobhuza II public health unit in the Manzini region of Swaziland. A written questionnaire was administered to a non-random sample of 90 consecutively selected mothers living with HIV attending the above-cited public health unit for post-natal health purposes. The overall study results revealed that the majority of breastfeeding mothers living with HIV in the afore-mentioned region (77.8%) presented high levels of knowledge on PMTCT, and 90% demonstrated a positive attitude; while a further 90% also demonstrated positive behaviour towards PMTCT. However, stigma and discrimination among family members, non-disclosure of HIV status to sexual partners; as well as poverty and fear of future drug-resistance are the cause of non-adherence to ARV prophylaxis. Furthermore, inconsistent condom use, mixed-feeding methods and wet-nursing also emerged as other contributing factors to the increase of post-natal mother-to-child transmission of HIV among breastfeeding mothers living with HIV. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

In its efforts to reduce maternal mortality and prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, the government of Swaziland developed and implemented several programmes including a special antenatal care package for HIV-positive pregnant women in line with the WHO (2009) guidelines. Since the implementation of this latest special ANC package for HIV-positive women, little is known about how these services are experienced by the intended recipients. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the actual experiences of HIV-positive women with the antenatal care services provided at a regional referral hospital in Swaziland, with the view of providing more insight into the quality of ANC services from the users' perspectives. A qualitative descriptive, exploratory design was used to address the above purpose. The researcher used purposive sampling to select the participants who met the inclusion criteria for the study. Semi-structured individual interviews were used and saturation was reached after 18 individual face-to-face interviews. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the collected data. Forteen themes related to the participants experiences with the ANC services and seven related to measures for improvement emerged from data. In general HIV positive pregnant women expressed positive views towards ANC services they received at the target institution. The results give an indication on the quality of the focussed ANC package provided at the hospital and specific recommendations for improvement are outlined. / Health Studies / M. A. (Nursing Science)

Thesis in English, Annexure E: Consent form (leaf 81) as well as KABP Survey Questionnaire (leaves 87-91) in English and SiSwati. / The purpose of the study was to assess knowledge, explore attitudes and determine practices of breastfeeding mothers living with HIV regarding post-natal PMTCT interventions and services. The study was quantitative and descriptive in nature, utilising a retrospective cohort design. The study sample included breastfeeding mothers living with HIV, who attended the King Sobhuza II public health unit in the Manzini region of Swaziland. A written questionnaire was administered to a non-random sample of 90 consecutively selected mothers living with HIV attending the above-cited public health unit for post-natal health purposes. The overall study results revealed that the majority of breastfeeding mothers living with HIV in the afore-mentioned region (77.8%) presented high levels of knowledge on PMTCT, and 90% demonstrated a positive attitude; while a further 90% also demonstrated positive behaviour towards PMTCT. However, stigma and discrimination among family members, non-disclosure of HIV status to sexual partners; as well as poverty and fear of future drug-resistance are the cause of non-adherence to ARV prophylaxis. Furthermore, inconsistent condom use, mixed-feeding methods and wet-nursing also emerged as other contributing factors to the increase of post-natal mother-to-child transmission of HIV among breastfeeding mothers living with HIV. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

In its efforts to reduce maternal mortality and prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, the government of Swaziland developed and implemented several programmes including a special antenatal care package for HIV-positive pregnant women in line with the WHO (2009) guidelines. Since the implementation of this latest special ANC package for HIV-positive women, little is known about how these services are experienced by the intended recipients. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the actual experiences of HIV-positive women with the antenatal care services provided at a regional referral hospital in Swaziland, with the view of providing more insight into the quality of ANC services from the users' perspectives. A qualitative descriptive, exploratory design was used to address the above purpose. The researcher used purposive sampling to select the participants who met the inclusion criteria for the study. Semi-structured individual interviews were used and saturation was reached after 18 individual face-to-face interviews. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the collected data. Forteen themes related to the participants experiences with the ANC services and seven related to measures for improvement emerged from data. In general HIV positive pregnant women expressed positive views towards ANC services they received at the target institution. The results give an indication on the quality of the focussed ANC package provided at the hospital and specific recommendations for improvement are outlined. / Health Studies / M. A. (Nursing Science)