Originally developed by Glaser and Strauss, grounded theory is a useful research method for researchers aiming to generate novel theory as it emerges from data gathered and analysed. However, this method is not utilised extensively, and when it is applied, it often leaves researchers confused as to its utility. This article addresses the origins of grounded theory while also informing readers of some of the difficulties regarding this research method. These difficulties arise as a result of the fundamental contentions presented by Glaser and Strauss in their theoretical and methodological divorce from each other and their original grounded theory approach. Illustrative examples of the issues related to the selection of a grounded theory method are presented in relation to a study that relied on the Straussian grounded theory approach to account for the meanings of HIV prophylactic Voluntary Medical Adult Male Circumcision in South Africa.

Abstract

Despite significant financial and human resources mobilized to manage current infections and prevent new cases, HIV, prevalence remains high in South Africa. The intractability of HIV has resulted in calls for the implementation of novel HIV prevention strategies (UNAIDS, 2013), such as Voluntary Medical Adult Male Circumcision (VMAMC) as a part of a comprehensive HIV prevention intervention. Whether traditionally practiced or not, male circumcision is powerfully implicated in meanings of masculinity in South Africa. The national rollout of VMAMC tensions 'traditional' masculinity against various biomedical apprehensions, particularly in the language and logic of HIV prevention. As such this paper explores how this tension is negotiated in participants' perceptions of VMAMC as a South African public health intervention. Semistructured repeat interviews conducted with 30 adult men from Johannesburg were analyzed using a Straussian grounded theory approach. Three primary categories revealed that meanings of masculinity within the context of VMAMC are underpinned (a) by adopting an active role in the fight against HIV in South Africa, (b) as understanding the tension between tradition and medicine, and/or (c) by using 'tradition' as a means to reappropriate or reject the practice. These categories suggest that the removal of the foreskin cannot simply be reduced to a biomedical practice on or related to male bodies assumed to be unmediated by culture and history. These findings hold significant implications for the implementation of a national VMAMC HIV prevention program in South Africa.

Medical adult male circumcision has been shown to offer men significant protection against HIV infection during peno-vaginal sex. This has resulted in calls for a national roll-out of medical adult male circumcision in South Africa, a rights-based constitutional democracy. This article explores the ways that the potential tensions between this call to circumcise as a practice of good health citizenship and the guaranteed right to bodily integrity are negotiated in interviews with 30 urban-based men in Johannesburg. The results suggest that despite its demonstrable biological efficacy, these tensions may paralyse decision- and policy-makers in grappling with the potential scaling up of medical adult male circumcision for HIV prevention in South Africa.

Considering the uniquely South African psychosocial context, where lay and expert responses to the AIDS pandemic have thwarted or improved efforts to contain the spread of HIV infection, this study sought to investigate how perceptions of risk and resulting risk-taking sexual behaviour, regarding HIV transmission and prevention, are mediated by the manner in which HIV is socially represented (as a means of human social communication). Thus, this article presents the findings of an exploratory South African study that engaged with the social representations of HIV/AIDS amongst undergraduate students from a large university in Johannesburg, South Africa, by highlighting the bearing of these social representations in shaping responses to the risk culture of the HIV pandemic. Thirty participants completed 13 openended items for 'The Perceptions of Risk and Behaviours regarding HIV Questionnaire', which were thematically analysed to produce social representation themes (such as HIV/AIDS being punishment for sexual immorality, AIDS as an evil perpetrator and the vulnerable 'other', to mention a few) that are used to create a base system of communication about HIV/AIDS, which are relied on when mediating responses to the assessed threat of HIV infection.