A quantitative, descriptive, explorative survey was conducted to explore and describe nurses’ perceptions of disclosure to children of their HIV positive status in Addis Ababa. 100 nurses working in six conveniently sampled health centres participated by completing a self-administered questionnaire. The findings revealed that the majority of participants were of the opinion that children have the right to know their HIV status, participate in their own treatment, and that disclosure contributes towards improved adherence. Forty-one of the participants said that it is nurses’ role to support caregivers in the disclosure process. But 56.3% felt they lacked the training to disclose to children that they are infected with HIV. Accordingly, it is recommended that relevant and applied training is required to equip nurses with the knowledge and skills to disclose to children their status. The importance of nurses’ proactive role in disclosure to children of their HIV status needs to be emphasised. / Health Studies

ABSTRACT Study Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study was to explore what it means to have HIV/AIDS in Gaborone, Botswana. The study describes the demographic and socioeconomic circumstances of the participants. It also elicits and explores the experiences of people living with HIV/AIDS in Gaborone, Botswana. Methods Interviewees were purposely selected from a hospice, an NGO and a church that ministers to PLWHA. In depth interviews were conducted and recorded by audiotape. The interviews were conducted in Setswana and the interviewees responded to a statement, which essentially was, “Tell me about your life since you knew you had HIV/AIDS”. The audio recordings were transcribed into English. Care was taken to carry the Setswana way of speaking directly into English. A thematic analysis of the transcripts was made. A modified cut and paste method was used to gather the information into its various themes. Results There were 15 interviewees. Their average age was 35.3 years and on average, they had 1.6 children each. They were unemployed. The interviewees described a wide range of experiences, which were not necessarily experienced by all. Their narratives described the physical symptoms they suffered. They described stigma and discrimination that they went through. They gave accounts of psychological and emotional turmoil. Psychiatric problems were cited. They were very concerned that they could no longer support their children. They also worried about what would happen to their children when they died. As their disease progressed, they lost their jobs and were reduced to poverty. They could no longer support themselves and their dependents. They depended on relatives, friends, NGOs and government for relief. Relief from friends and relatives was often not available. They suffered hunger, as they could not satisfy their increased appetites after they started ARV drug therapy. Their relationships were disrupted when they got ill. Spouses and friends left and some relatives and friends stigmatised them. Interviewees were taken care of by relatives, friends, health professionals, NGOs, and social workers. In all these categories, there were good and bad care givers except the hospice and church, which were reported as good caregivers. Caregiver fatigue was described. Some interviewees found comfort in God. They believed that He knows what they are going through and will take care of them. The interviewees also found comfort and healing from the companionship of other PLWHA. The interviewees wanted to find jobs and work so that they could support themselves and their dependents. They wished government would train them and find them jobs. Conclusion The study confirmed the psycho-emotional problems and concern for children felt by PLWHA, that the literature revealed. It showed the physical problems they also suffer. The study revealed that interviewees lost jobs and became destitute. They could not satisfy their increased appetites after they started ARV drug therapy. Interviewees’ relationships were disrupted when they got ill. Spouses and friends left and some relatives did not treat them well. There were good and bad care givers in different categories. The African custom of botho/ubuntu seems to be succumbing to the onslaught of HIV/AIDS. The study showed that interviewees found comfort and support from family, friends, NGO’s and the church. They found God and other PLWHA especially valuable support systems. It was encouraging to notice that some interviewees felt that with time, stigmatisation of PLWHA is gradually subsiding.

ABSTRACT: Madwaleni Hospital is situated in a deeply rural area of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, serving a catchment population of approximately 262,300 within a 35 kilometer radius. An HIV programme was started in mid-2005 to try and address some of the HIV burden faced by the community. The pillars to the Madwaleni HIV programme comprise VCT (voluntary counselling and testing) and the HIV Wellness programme – a group of family-oriented services (including provision of antiretrovirals) offered to HIV positive individuals within the framework of local support groups meeting at the local hospital, community health center and primary health clinics. As at end August 2009, there are 3760 Wellness programmes members, of whom 1700 are on antiretrovirals. RESEARCH AIM: The purpose of this research was to obtain an in-depth understanding of individual’s perception of the success of the Madwaleni HIV Wellness Programme in the context of the individual needs in living with HIV.

A quantitative, descriptive, explorative survey was conducted to explore and describe nurses’ perceptions of disclosure to children of their HIV positive status in Addis Ababa. 100 nurses working in six conveniently sampled health centres participated by completing a self-administered questionnaire. The findings revealed that the majority of participants were of the opinion that children have the right to know their HIV status, participate in their own treatment, and that disclosure contributes towards improved adherence. Forty-one of the participants said that it is nurses’ role to support caregivers in the disclosure process. But 56.3% felt they lacked the training to disclose to children that they are infected with HIV. Accordingly, it is recommended that relevant and applied training is required to equip nurses with the knowledge and skills to disclose to children their status. The importance of nurses’ proactive role in disclosure to children of their HIV status needs to be emphasised. / Health Studies

INTRODUCTION: The rate of smoking is significantly higher among people living with HIV (PLWH) in comparison to the general population (CDC, 2017b; Humfleet et al., 2009). Tobacco use among PLWH heightens the risk for HIV-related symptoms and is a pertinent public health issue. Smokers living with HIV are also more likely to develop non-AIDS-related illness in comparison to non-smokers living with HIV. Smoking cessation interventions are desperately needed to cater towards PLWH. This warrants the need for patient-provider interactions in healthcare facilities regarding smoking cessation. AIM: To document rates of smoking and visitations to healthcare facilities among persons living with and without HIV in higher vs. lower-risk areas and to examine associations among healthcare visitations, stressors, and smoking in these sub-samples (i.e., PLWH in higher-risk areas, PLWH in lower-risk areas, people without HIV in higher-risk areas, people without HIV in lower-risk areas). METHODS: Secondary analyses were conducted using data from a network-based, HIV endemic study that was conducted in Metro Atlanta (Rothenberg, Dai, Adams & Heath, 2017). The study included 927 participants from 10 Atlanta zip codes (5 lower-risk and 5 higher-risk based on reported HIV cases). Participants provided information on their smoking status and healthcare visitations, as well as whether they had experienced several stressors (e.g., violence, homelessness, being threatened with a weapon, lack of transportation). Descriptive analyses and frequency distributions were conducted and presented on key variables. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between key variables and smoking. RESULTS: Overall, the rate of smoking was quite high in this study. Seventy-four percent of the sample smoked, which is almost five times the smoking rate among the general adult U.S. population (CDC, 2016a). The smoking rate was strikingly high among PLWH in the higher-risk areas (95%). In unadjusted analyses, participants who were older, male, homeless, and do not drive their own car were more likely to smoke. In the adjusted analyses age, gender, and lack of transportation remained significant predictors of smoking. Visitations to healthcare facilities were not significantly associated with smoking or other variables in this study. DISCUSSION: Smoking appears quite common among PLWH, especially those living in higher-risk areas. This study provided important information on the extent to which persons living with and without HIV in higher and lower-risk areas of Atlanta are receiving healthcare services, as well as how demographic factors and stress relate to smoking in these sub-samples. Future research is needed to develop and disseminate effective smoking cessation programs among smokers living with HIV.

Abstract Throughout history, many diseases have carried considerable stigma, including leprosy tuberculosis, cancer, mental illness and many STDs. Now HIV/AIDS is the topmost in the list of diseases that leads to devastating patient stigmatization. Despite international efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS, stigma and discrimination remain among the most poorly understood aspects of the epidemic. In the face of numerous intervention strategies, HIV/AIDS continues to spread and to pose a threat to the socio-economic transformation of South Africa. The broad objective of this study was to investigate how the stigmatisation of HIV-Positive women is made manifest and look at how successful the National Association of people living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) in South Africa has been in achieving their objectives and goals of changing the perceptions people have about HIV/AIDS and creating awareness about the debilitating effect stigmatisation has in the society, especially when it viciously targets HIV-positive women. A case study approach was used to examine the experiences of HIV/AIDS infected/affected women and NAPWA administrators. Methods used in the collection of data were self-administered questionnaires, participant observation and archival evidence in the form of documents. Through these methods, the study investigated ways in which the stigmatisation of HIV-positive women was made manifest, the role of NAPWA in fighting HIV/AIDS stigmatisation, how successful NAPWA has been in the fight against the stigmatisation of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa, challenges faced by NAPWA in the fight against HIV stigmatisation and discrimination, weaknesses of NAPWA and what impact all these have in the spread of HIV/AIDS. The research results show that HIV-positive women suffer stigmatisation and that; organisations of people living with HIV/AIDS (e.g. NAPWA-SA) play a major role in eradicating the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS. It also suggests that APWAs in effect help to reduce the spread of the disease and prolong the life span of those infected by it. All this not withstanding, the study also discovered that APWAs like NAPWA-SA need the support of government and stakeholders in South Africa to fully implement their strategies and programmes geared towards reducing stigma and the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Thesis (MPH)--University of Limpopo, 2011. / Background: Support groups are an informal resource that attempts to provide healing components to a variety of problems and challenges. An informal support outside of family, friends, or professionals often provides greater understanding, more similarity (from individuals experiencing similar life events), an opportunity for empathy and altruism, and a sense of identity for participants. Learning new ways to handle challenges, cope with changes, and maintain new behaviors are all important aspects of the support group experience. Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine what HIV positive people perceive as barriers to participate in HIV support groups. Methods: This was a quantitative study design using structured questionnaires on 248 participants who gave written consents to participate in the study. Results: Majority were female 63% participants, single (52.63%), unemployed (60%), between ages 31-40 and 52.02% attained secondary education. Participants who were currently on HIV treatment (prophylaxis and ARV) has attended HIV support groups before while participants who were not on any treatment have never attended HIV support groups. Participants who never attended HIV support group also never attended other support groups. The main reasons that participants gave for not attending in HIV support groups was that they are concerned about their privacy and HIV status being known by others. Barriers preventing attendance of HIV support group were support groups are hard to find, work schedules and lack of transport money.

No description available.

No abstract available. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

Numerous studies have focused on the effectiveness of community health worker (CHW) programs in producing positive health behaviors and health outcomes for the clients CHWs serve; however, there has been a gap in the literature regarding how the health of HIV + CHWs is impacted by their jobs. A phenomenological design was used to gain insight into the lived experiences of HIV+ CHWs (HIVCHW) who provided services to HIV positive clients. Fifteen HIVCHW were recruited using criteria and snowball techniques. Data were collected via audio recorded personal interviews regarding respondents' perceptions of their work and how it impacted their own health and wellbeing. The data were organized by hand creating charts with pen and paper. Lazarus's theory of stress and coping was used to understand the data and aided in the analysis. The key findings indicated that while the majority of participants had an overall positive perception of the experience of being HIVCHWs, they also indicated that being a CHW impacted their health and well-being. Stress and stressful situations were among the impacts most often referenced by the study participants. The study is socially significant because it may offer the workforce of HIVCHWs empowerment to self-advocate for tools such as stress and time management training and mentors to support healthy work-life balance. In addition, this study may help to prevent or reduce rates of adverse health outcomes such as pain and burnout that HIVCHWs reported experiencing.