M.Phil. / In my view, the battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic is the greatest challenge that we face as South Africans today. The harsh reality is that there is no vaccine or cure against HIV/AIDS, nor is there an immediate prospect of one. For this reason, I believe that alternative actions need to be taken in order to curtail the further spread of the disease. The need for such efforts is particularly great in the rural areas of South Africa, which is where large portions of people suffering from HIV/AIDS come from. Furthermore, I would assert that education offers the most important and valuable means of contributing to our fight against the further spread of HIV/AIDS. It is upon my involvement in an HIV/AIDS education initiative, which focused specifically on de-stigmatising HIV/AIDS in the rural community of Rammulotsi in Viljoenskroon, that I base the above view. The central aim of this inquiry was to critically inquire into the successes and failures of this education initiative and further determine the reasons for these, in order to ascertain how the project could be improved upon in the future. The entry point for the aforementioned HIV/AIDS education initiative had at its roots the precepts of emancipation, transformation and action. Thus the platform for developing a research endeavour interfaced within the theoretical framework of Transformative Learning Theory had been created. The research strategy that appeared to be best suited for addressing an inquiry of this nature was that of Action Research. It has utilised the four v major moments of the continuous cycle or spiral of planning, acting, observing, reflecting. However, the main focus of this study pertained to the observing and reflecting stages of the cycle, as the planning and acting stages had already occurred. Additionally, in keeping with the principles of Action Research, the study was conducted from a qualitative perspective and the methods of data collection utilised included participant observation, open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The participants of this. inquiry comprised nine adult community caregivers of the Hospice Association in Viljoenskroon, who reside in Rammulotsi, as well as my cofacilitator in the HIV/AIDS education initiative. The findings of this inquiry indicate that the HIV/AIDS education initiative embarked upon in the rural community of Rammulotsi, Viljoenskroon did succeed in realising the aims it set out to achieve. Furthermore, through the observation and reflection processes engaged in during the course of this inquiry two significant determinations were made. In the first place, it emerged that the participants' negative preconceptions and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS underwent a transformation. Secondly, the findings revealed additional notable issues for consideration in relation to future planning for the HIV/AIDS education initiative, thereby ensuring the sustainability of this project.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:1754 |
| Date | 30 November 2011 |
| Creators | Duganzich, Gwendoline Mary |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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