A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Educational Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology & Special Needs Education at the University Of Zululand, 2017 / The aim of this study was to assess the mental health status of school going adolescents on ART. The objectives of the study being to establish the status of mental health before and after these adolescents are placed on ART. A literature study was done in order to determine the feasibility of the study and in order to strengthen the need for such information to be known. A qualitative approach was used so as to gain insight into the topic. Data was collected using face to face interviews and an interview guide was prepared to guide the discussions between the researcher and the participants. The data collected was thematically analysed and the results were presented using the research questions and the themes that emerged in answering those questions. Themes and sub-themes that emerged included compliance; fear of disclosing; normalisation of life with HIV; acceptance and support from family; fear of rejection, stigma and discrimination; institutional support; morally judged. Since participants were young when they tested mental health changes occurred once their status was disclosed to them. The adolescents have unresolved mental health issues and which become unknown to the healthcare workers due to ineffective communication. Participants were still preoccupied with the thought that they will be on ARVs for the rest of their lives. Key problems faced by the adolescents included preoccupation about the future, fear of stigma and discrimination and reject from society. There were no feelings of anger towards their caregivers once their status was disclosed to them. Only feelings of fear and confusion were raised which were quickly addressed by caregivers. Recommendations were included to address the concerns highlighted in the study and these included a need to address factors such as disclosure, stigma and discrimination as these directly and indirectly have an impact on the mental health of HIV positive adolescents and follow-up research needs to be done to document the lives of adolescents post admission in the ART programme.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uzulu/oai:uzspace.unizulu.ac.za:10530/1550 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Nyasulu, Zinandi Ziyanda Zipho-zethu |
| Contributors | Hlongwane, M.M |
| Publisher | University of Zululand |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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