The main objective of this study was to explore the perceptions of health care, and social services professionals on the psychosocial impact of African rural families. The research questions addressed were, the impact of HIV/AIDS on rural families, the impact on affected others, how HIV/AIDS has changed definition of rural families’ structures and the coping strategies adopted by these families in coping with the psychosocial impact of HIV/AIDS. The data were collected from six participants namely; 4 health care and 2 social services professionals who had an experience of 8 years dealing directly with families affected by the epidemic. This was an exploratory study and the measure used was semi-structured interview using open-ended questions to allow participants to reflect on their experiences as well as allowing the researcher to explore any areas that seemed necessary. The main results of the study revealed that there is a relationship between poverty and HIV/AIDS. The study also revealed the detrimental effect of HIV/AIDS on women and children as well as how cultural beliefs might at times be an obstacle for the intervention programmes to be effective. The findings have implications for the health care and social services professionals dealing with affected families that more psychosocial support is needed. Recommendations for further research on more studies related to the results as well as implementations of intervention programmes were indicated.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/5783 |
| Date | 22 October 2008 |
| Creators | Ramosolo, Ponky |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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