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Caregivers readiness to disclose HIV status : experiences and challenges of child disclosure in South Africa

Disclosure of HIV status to children is a challenging process for caregivers, as it involves discussing a highly stigmatised disease, which may cause psychological stress to a child. Despite the benefits of disclosing, rates of HIV disclosure remain low as caregivers face various obstacles preventin...

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Main Author: Tapscott, Kimberley
Other Authors: Colvin, Christopher J
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Public Health and Family Medicine 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Tapscott, Kimberley
author2 Colvin, Christopher J
author_browse Colvin, Christopher J
Tapscott, Kimberley
author_facet Colvin, Christopher J
Tapscott, Kimberley
author_sort Tapscott, Kimberley
collection Thesis
description Disclosure of HIV status to children is a challenging process for caregivers, as it involves discussing a highly stigmatised disease, which may cause psychological stress to a child. Despite the benefits of disclosing, rates of HIV disclosure remain low as caregivers face various obstacles preventing them from disclosing, and this can have long-lasting effects on the treatment adherence of HIV-positive children. This qualitative study explored the perspectives and experiences of caregivers, in order to understand their readiness to disclose HIV status to their children, and address the factors that assist and hinder the process. Caregivers of HIV positive children (aged 5-15 years) participated in two focus group discussions (11 in each), and in-depth interviews were conducted with eight additional caregivers. Two healthcare workers and 10 NGO staff were also interviewed. Three key themes emerged from the data: caregivers' avoidance or delay of disclosure, factors related to caregivers' motivations to disclose, and caregiver's perception of child readiness for disclosure. The findings support the view that caregiver readiness is a key element of child disclosure. The research identified how caregivers can be educated about the benefits of disclosure, and be guided to take responsibility for the process. As there is a lack of context-specific and culturally-sensitive recommendations for child disclosure in South Africa, this research can be used to broaden the case base to inform the development of standardised guidelines that will assist caregivers to effectively communicate and manage the process of HIV disclosure with their children.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:35:11.284Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Public Health and Family Medicine
publisherStr Department of Public Health and Family Medicine
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20426 Caregivers readiness to disclose HIV status : experiences and challenges of child disclosure in South Africa Tapscott, Kimberley Colvin, Christopher J Swartz, Alison Social and Behavioural Sciences Disclosure of HIV status to children is a challenging process for caregivers, as it involves discussing a highly stigmatised disease, which may cause psychological stress to a child. Despite the benefits of disclosing, rates of HIV disclosure remain low as caregivers face various obstacles preventing them from disclosing, and this can have long-lasting effects on the treatment adherence of HIV-positive children. This qualitative study explored the perspectives and experiences of caregivers, in order to understand their readiness to disclose HIV status to their children, and address the factors that assist and hinder the process. Caregivers of HIV positive children (aged 5-15 years) participated in two focus group discussions (11 in each), and in-depth interviews were conducted with eight additional caregivers. Two healthcare workers and 10 NGO staff were also interviewed. Three key themes emerged from the data: caregivers' avoidance or delay of disclosure, factors related to caregivers' motivations to disclose, and caregiver's perception of child readiness for disclosure. The findings support the view that caregiver readiness is a key element of child disclosure. The research identified how caregivers can be educated about the benefits of disclosure, and be guided to take responsibility for the process. As there is a lack of context-specific and culturally-sensitive recommendations for child disclosure in South Africa, this research can be used to broaden the case base to inform the development of standardised guidelines that will assist caregivers to effectively communicate and manage the process of HIV disclosure with their children. 2016-07-18T12:52:02Z 2016-07-18T12:52:02Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MPH http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20426 eng application/pdf Department of Public Health and Family Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Social and Behavioural Sciences
Tapscott, Kimberley
Caregivers readiness to disclose HIV status : experiences and challenges of child disclosure in South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Caregivers readiness to disclose HIV status : experiences and challenges of child disclosure in South Africa
title_full Caregivers readiness to disclose HIV status : experiences and challenges of child disclosure in South Africa
title_fullStr Caregivers readiness to disclose HIV status : experiences and challenges of child disclosure in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Caregivers readiness to disclose HIV status : experiences and challenges of child disclosure in South Africa
title_short Caregivers readiness to disclose HIV status : experiences and challenges of child disclosure in South Africa
title_sort caregivers readiness to disclose hiv status experiences and challenges of child disclosure in south africa
topic Social and Behavioural Sciences
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20426
work_keys_str_mv AT tapscottkimberley caregiversreadinesstodisclosehivstatusexperiencesandchallengesofchilddisclosureinsouthafrica