Limited research has been conducted on children’s understanding of HIV/AIDS despite
its widespread practice in South Africa today. This study aimed to explore this area,
specifically investigating institutionalised children’s understanding of HIV/AIDS
Increased mortality rates have been seen as a result of the pandemic. In addition, children
are seen as vulnerable to the impact of HIV/AIDS. While some children are directly
affected by HIV/AIDS, having lost their parents to the epidemic, other children are
infected with the virus. Taking this into account, it was deemed useful to explore how
children have made sense of HIV/AIDS.
The participants for the current study were between the ages of 8 and 14 years, and they
were drawn from a children’s institution in a black community within South Africa. The
participants engaged in story telling and drawing as means of communicating their
understanding of HIV/AIDS. They participated in the following activities: Draw A
Person (DAP), Kinetic Family Drawing (KFD), Draw a picture of a person infected with
HIV/AIDS, Drawing a picture of HIV/AIDS, and completing Incomplete Sentences in
relation to their understandings of HIV/AIDS. They also answered relevant questions in
relation to all their drawings. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data,
together with methods adopted from a study conducted by Wiener and Figueroa (1998). It
was found that children have a basic understanding of HIV/AIDS, based on information
they obtained from their educators, guardians, peers, and the media. Prominent themes
arising from the findings are as follows: the visibility of HIV infection, the impact of HIV
on relationships, HIV changing lives, preoccupation with death and dying, confusion
about HIV/AIDS, and HIV and Morality. Generally, respondents were found to have a
negative perception of HIV/AIDS. It was also found that although respondents seem to
have some understanding of HIV/AIDS regarding modes of transmission, and ways of
preventing transmission, confusion about HIV/AIDS was dominant.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/6622 |
| Date | 05 March 2009 |
| Creators | Mahlobo, Bongiwe |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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