Community-based care of children with HIV in Potchefstroom, South Africa

Abstract

Children contract HIV infection largely through vertical transmission and are vulnerable to AIDS illness due to an immature immune system. In South Africa, hospitals are often overburdened and thus children with HIV may be directed to the community for care. As a result, non-professional caregivers are a predominant source of care for children living with HIV. Various authors, including the Department of Health, have stipulated the importance of establishing the knowledge and needs of non-professional caregivers of children with HIV. Our research has investigated the extent of non-professional caregivers' knowledge and needs, specifically those within the Potchefstroom district of the North-West Province. The objectives included formulating guidelines for a training programme that can enhance relevant knowledge and skills among these caregivers. Quantitative data were gathered using a questionnaire, which was developed following a literature study. The 109 non-professional caregivers who responded to the questionnaire displayed some knowledge and skills concerning specifically the care of children with HIV or AIDS, although gaps existed concerning their knowledge of community-based referral, caring needs specific to children, and precautionary measures to prevent HIV transmission. Recommendations are made with specific reference to a training programme. We surmise that non-professional caregivers play a pivotal role in the care of children with HIV in the Potchefstroom district - a service that is sometimes rendered in perilous conditions. This study improves our understanding of the support and training needed for non-professional caregivers in their pursuit to care for children with HIV in resource-limited communities, and thus it contributes to the field of nursing science. The findings may generate ideas for future research on this important topic.

People living with HIV/AIDS and the utilization of home-based care services

“…The importance of the service was noted by the patients and volunteers and this probably explains the reason for its acceptance by the community. Similar findings were noted by Van Graan et al (2007) where (91.6%) of subjects were knowledgeable about HBC and 88.7% showed favorable attitude towards HBC services. The home caregivers group is the most vital resource in relation to HIV/AIDS management in villages as it is the promising group to lead community-led effort to facilitate more effective local response to HIV/AIDS (Campbell et al, 2007).…”

“…The majority of volunteers are female (Van Graan et al, 2007) and are facing problem to educate men as the culture in the region do not allow women to stand in front of men and discuss sexuality. This impacts negatively on the prevention strategies as the HBC services have more women than men.…”

Annual Research Review: What is resilience within the social ecology of human development?

“…Likewise, studies of South African orphans whose parents died of AIDS are challenging the notion that children are abandoned. Cultural practices that express ‘Ubuntu’ (a quality of community or extended family obligations to care for one another) create structures that support the housing, feeding and educating of children who in other countries might become homeless or institutionalized (Theron, 2007; Van Graan, Van der Walt, & Watson, 2007). North American equivalents among Aboriginal peoples in which neglected and abused children are provided kinship adoptions that allow them to remain in their communities and among their same‐culture peers (Blackstock & Trocmé, 2005) is another example of structural, or exo‐systemic, responses that help meet the needs of children at risk.…”

Visual methodology to build a resilient ‘communitas’

“…Enabling research takes place within, and is relevant to, a given community; acknowledges the ecological nature of the community (Trickett 1997); and involves community members as research partners (Swart & Bowman 2007). Furthermore, it seeks positive change and concurrent participant empowerment towards addressing social problems, and/ or conceptualising a given social reality more meaningfully (Lazarus 2007;Terre Blanche & Durrheim 2008;Van der Walt et al 2007). Intervention research that is community focused and involves teachers can make a difference not only in schools, but also in school communities.…”

“…Historically disadvantaged groups generally have less access to support in their immediate environment, such as protective resources and interventions (Patel 2005;Van der Walt et al 2007). Traditional one-toone psychotherapeutic interventions remain limited in post-millennium South Africa, largely for fiscal reasons (Patel 2005; Republic of South Africa [RSA], Ministry for Welfare and Population Development 1997).…”