CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS
4.8 Factors that influenced disclosure
4.8.2 Barriers to HIV disclosure
Culture and tradition, the age of significant others, witnessing the consequences of other individual‟s disclosure and accessibility to significant others contributed to non-
disclosure.
Culture and traditional medicine
Participants argued that their cultural values and belief systems made it difficult for them to disclose their HIV status. This is on the grounds that the older members of their families advised the participants to take traditional medicine as a form of treatment for HIV/AIDS. In effect, participants took the traditional medicine to satisfy the older
members of their families.
P1: they know they are willing to learn and they like not too much on the traditional part of the culture that is why it is easy for them to understand and to learn but my father's the older the elders they very stereotype they like believe in the traditional herbs, they belief in all the muti's, the zulu medicines and if you tell them about this scientific things they don't want to hear about it.
P2: My uncle when he was visit me at Westville I told him that I am HIV positive them too they got the mind that the bejane is going to help he said that hey even if you are HIV positive it is ok you got bejane. Bejane is helping everyone outside. I said ok I am HIV positive. Don't be angry and don't be afraid I am going to bring you the bejane before I come out I do the training when I do the training they keep on counseling me I hear about how the bejane is killing people.
P3: when I came out my father says no I must take out all the bad luck coz being in prison is bad luck, I must take out the bad luck so he gave all the medicines I must do I couldn't oppose my father…
The nature and reality of HIV/AIDS is such that the cultural and traditional systems that the individual is embedded in influences the process of disclosure. The participant‟s description of their culture and tradition shows that in some instances culture and
tradition lays the foundation to which participants encounter HIV/AIDS. The issue raised in these findings needs to be included more efficiently within HIV/AIDS campaigns.
Age of Significant others
According to the participants, the age of significant others had hindered their ability to disclose their HIV status. On the one hand, participants felt that their children were too young to disclose their HIV status because they would not be able to understand the implications of being HIV positive. On the other hand, participants felt that they were unable to disclose to their mothers because they were concerned about their mother‟s health.
P1: Because I stayed 9 years or 10 years in the institution so you see he still is a kid I do care for him but me and his mother we are trying to say that he is still young we mustn't tell we must keep
on doing the good for HIV but we mustn't facing it straight you see both of us are HIV positive you know maybe it is going to affect him in school or what we are trying to do everything right we are keep on talking to him about HIV we make him learn a lot about HIV.
P2: Even my mother I didn't tell her because my mother is too old. She can be shocked you see.
You see my mother I didn't tell her because she is too old. She doesn't know about this disease because she is from the olden era. But then when I told my sister and asked hey how can I tell my mother she said hey my mother can die if I tell her you.
Understanding the implications of disclosure through significant others Participants were reluctant to disclose their HIV status because they feared that they would be in a similar situation as other individuals who disclosed their HIV status.
Participants had been aware of situations where individuals faced death due to the disclosure of their HIV status.
P1: People what are they going to say therefore if they do something so funny like they did because she just told them that she is HIV positive throw the stones over her.
P2: This former hero that is HIV positive Dlamini Phato there was men who were parking at the workshop for her after her of which they throw stones over her and then she died because she told them that she was HIV positive. They kill her like that because of HIV status because….
Accessibility of significant others
The extent to which participants had access to significant others affected the participant‟s decision to disclose. All participants had limited access to significant others when they were an offender and an HIV positive offender.
P1: You know from the period of five years being diagnosed after I find out about my status, they were not behind me they were not supporting me even in prison you know even the physical support you know coming to prison, coming to see me often. They were not coming to see me that is why I got sick in all cases and that is why I was shy about my status.
P2: Hmm, my brother but unfortunately he passed away last month. My brother was the first guy that I disclosed my status to. [Hmmm], in fact while I was in prison I lost my mother, my
grandfather, my father also passed away last month also my brother. So before I could disclose to
them, I only spoke to my brother and current girlfriend. Those are the only persons that I have disclosed my status too.
The age of significant others, encountering other HIV positive individuals, and
accessibility to significant others shows how the process of disclosure occurs in a context that is driven by the role – played by significant others. Furthermore, these barriers indicate that disclosure also occurred due to their exposure to other HIV positive individuals. Even though participants had limited access to significant others during incarceration, their decision to disclose their HIV status was largely defined by their sense of urgency.