Experiences of people living with HIV and people living close to them of a comprehensive HIV stigma reduction community intervention in an urban and a rural setting

Abstract

HIV stigma remains high globally. Although there is a selection of HIV stigma reduction interventions discussed in the literature, there is a paucity of research about the effectiveness of these interventions. This study aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the experiences of people living with HIV (PLWH) and people living close to them from six designated groups during and after having undergone a comprehensive HIV stigma reduction community intervention in both an urban and a rural setting. Attention was focused on their expressed experiences of the workshop and projects executed. A qualitative interpretive description approach was used. PLWH as participants were selected through purposive voluntary sampling and through snowball sampling for the people living close to them. Recruitment was from both urban and rural settings in the North West Province, South Africa. Data collection was via in-depth interviews with 23 PLWH and 60 people living close to them from specific designated groups. The data were thematically analysed through manual open coding. The results from the urban and rural settings were pooled, as there were no noteworthy differences in the themes between them. The results indicated that there was an increase in knowledge in all the groups, as well as experiences of enhanced relationships and of being equipped with leadership skills in order to go out into the community and being part of HIV stigma reduction actions. The intervention in its comprehensive nature was found to have been successful and promising for future use in reducing HIV stigma.

Peer supporter experiences of home visits for people with HIV infection

“…However, evidence indicates that HIV-related stigma can be lessened through comprehensive community interventions – consisting of workshops for PLWHA and people living nearby, namely partners, children, close family members, close friends, spiritual leaders, and community members – such as those implemented in South Africa. 27 …”

“…This is a serious health risk and may hinder program efficacy, 28 leading to high turnover that can negatively affect the quality of care. Work-related burnout is increasingly common among health care workers 27 , 29 , 30 and informal caregivers providing care for PLWHA. 31 Role transition often leads to stress from workload demands and clients’ negative comments.…”

When the clinic becomes a home. Successful VCT and ART services in a stressful environment

“…Stangl, Lloyd, Brady, Holland & Baral 2013 ) and on the effectiveness of HIV-related interventions (cf. French, Greeff & Watson 2014 ; cf. Sengupta, Banks, Jones, Miles & Smith 2011 ).…”

Critical reflection on the integration of HIV into the health science curriculum

“…However, more than 20 years after the first democratic election, South Africa is in the midst of a profound health transition, characterized by poor health status, especially among Black South Africans. South Africa remains one of the sub-Saharan countries with the highest incidence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the world (WHO 2016;Chidrawi, Greeff, Temane and Ellis 2015;French, Greeff and Watson 2015). The high prevalence of HIV is further worsened by a combination of other poverty-related communicable diseases (e.g., tuberculosis); perinatal and maternal diseases/disorders, and violence-related injuries (Mayosi, Fisher, Lalloo, Sitas, Tollman and Bradshaw 2009;DEA 2013) including mother-to-child transmission and rape which have a direct bearing on HIV.…”

“…HIV at first presents itself as an aggressive virus which compromises the immune system and leads to sudden illness. This is a distinctive, sudden and extreme experience that not only affects the physical dimension of health, but also greatly affects social and psychological wellbeing, as well as that of family and the community they live in (French, Greeff, Watson and Doak 2014;French et al 2015). Societies characterised by HIV also experience heightened stigma, discrimination, blame and collective denial (Parker and Aggleton 2003;Aggleton, Parker and Maluwa 2003;Wood and Rens 2014).…”