Includes bibliographical references. / Although various measures, such as the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme, have been put in place to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, there are still many cases of children, in Zimbabwe, being born infected with HIV. Children born to HIV parents are reported to be at risk of having neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), which can reduce independence in activities of daily living by imposing varying limitations on these children. Technological advances in the field of HIV/AIDS have resulted in prolonged life for people infected with HIV/AIDS and therefore there is a growing population of mothers caring for their biologic al children who are infected with HIV. The aim of this study is focused on exploring the experiences of being a mother and caring for a child with HIV-related NDDs in Zimbabwe. Specific objectives were to describe the mothers’ experiences of engaging in the daily occupations of caring for a child with NDDs; to explore and describe factors that the mothers’ perceived to impact on their experiences while caring for their children and how these experiences of caring shape the mothers ’ own occupational identities and engagement. A descriptive phenomenological approach was designed to uncover their lived experience s of caring for a child with HIV - related NDDs. In-depth data was generated from phenomenological interviews conducted with five biological mothers who have been caring for their own children who have been diagnosed with HIV - related NDDs. A thematic analysis, guided by a simplified version of the Stevick - Colaizz - Keen method, was employed. The findings revealed the transactional nature of the mothers ’ experiences of the occupation of caring for a child with HIV - related NDD. Personal factors interacted with contextual factors such as stigma, culture and socioeconomics to shape their caring experiences, making caring for their child, a difficult and demanding role that they could not easily entrust to another. Although the mothers voiced that this caring was comprised of many burdensome tasks, the mothers reframe d the concept of the caregiver burden because they placed high value on and drew meaning from being a good mother to their child, thus making it an occupation that they would not readily entrust to another. The findings of this study encourage occupational therapists to consider carefully the resilience of these mothers and how their role as carers positively shape s their identities in the design of interventions for the mothers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/12819 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Dangarembizi, Nyaradzai Esther |
| Contributors | Gretschel, Pam, Sonday, Amshuda |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MSc |
| Format | application/pdf |
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