It also does not show any of the 5,300,000 South Africans who are already HIV positive. The public health system is additionally burdened by the increase in patients due to the current HIV/AIDS epidemic.
2.7) Critical Health Psychology
Narrative Theory
3.1) Storied Identity
On the one hand, narrative theory shows how the stories we tell are the result of the social context in which we are embedded (Andrews et al., 2000). They can hide difficulties in subjective life, as well as with social power relations.
3.3) Narrative and HIV/AIDS
Research Methodology
4.1) Research Approach
4.2) Study Design
The research participants were selected using non-probability sampling methods due to accessibility issues, reflecting the sensitive nature of the study. Phenomenology has an explicit focus on the lived world and concrete experiences of the person and therefore fits well with a narrative framework. I had a ten to fifteen minute introduction with each woman in which they were told about the research, its objectives and what the interviews would entail, and I answered any questions they had.
The purpose of this session is to find out the participant's personal information, such as age, marital status, number of children, etc. During each of the interviews, open-ended questions were asked and each respondent was asked the same basic questions in the same order. Unfortunately, this resulted in two of the women being interviewed only once rather than twice.
Fortunately, most of the necessary data had been obtained in the first interview; the second would have been primarily a follow-up interview so that there was enough data to include them in the analysis.
4.3) Ethical Considerations
Second, in terms of the translation process, in accordance with a hermeneutic/structionist approach to language, Swartz (1998) writes that because different languages develop different vocabulary systems for feelings, it is not sufficient to simply provide the nearest English translation. In the initial phase of the transcribing/translating process, the interviewers were used as transcribers/translators. As a result, the transcriptions were flat and did not provide a nuanced translation of the metaphorical and allegorical nature of the isiZulu language.
Well, because of the challenges I had in this research, I asked myself this many times, but still I don't regret the decision. Furthermore, given the difficulties in accessing and then interviewing participants, it seems unlikely that these stories will be told unless researchers make an effort to collect them. Another means of validation, which was particularly important due to the cultural and linguistic differences between the researcher and the participants, was constant interaction with an isiZulu colleague.
And finally, constant reflexivity throughout the analysis provided the opportunity to check for alternative explanations or interpretations of the data.
4.4) Narrative Analysis
Analysis
This first section will serve to introduce the participants and contextualize their stories in terms of their demographics, economic situation, home life, etc. In some cases, aspects from the first part may appear in the second thematic section. This is because these points are fundamental to the setting of the individual stories, but they are also common themes that need to be considered in terms of the literature and research that already exists.
GUGU
During the second pregnancy, she was tested and informed that she was HIV negative, so there was no suspicion that the third child could be HIV positive. She didn't directly disclose to her mother-in-law, but her sisters-in-law are positive and one of them is also a patient at the clinic, so it became pretty obvious that she was positive. It's hard to tell what exactly he means by saying he's like everyone else.
This revelation is a double whammy because not only does she find out about the baby, but it is also clear that she must be positive, so she not only cries for the baby but also for herself and her husband. The only way she can face her positive status and the death of her child is by asking God for courage and only through this faith can she accept what has happened. She initially says she has had no problems as a result of being HIV positive, apart from a slight weight loss.
It is very important to her that it is assumed that she has no problems, but she still mentions some very serious symptoms and side effects.
BONGI
As a result, she could try to be a 'good participant' who values the help she receives and therefore does not want to dwell on the negative aspects experienced if it jeopardizes her access to the clinic. Regarding the religious theme, although most of the women mention religion at some point in their stories, the thread of religion for Bongi runs through both of her interviews. However, she does not say that there will be a cure for everyone, but rather that she herself will be cured.
Her strong faith in God and religion allows her to accept that she is infected and also believe that she will not die from the disease. This aspect of religion has become one of the main threads running through the interviews and will be discussed in more detail in the next section. Bongi's transcriptions are also very interesting when it comes to the interaction between interpreter and participant within the interview context.
Both are isiZulu and this appears to be a result of the cultural interaction mediated by the unusual circumstances of an interview context.
SIMPHIWE
One case where she repeatedly uses the active "I" is when she lists the improvements that have happened to her life now that she is in RTSH. Even within this short extract it is possible to trace the shift in the self-referential pronoun from active "I" when listing the many household activities she can do now that she is healthier, to passive "you" when she makes reference. to be ill and confined to bed. Otherwise, because it is strongly influenced by religious discourse, it is as if these are made.
She might slip into a speech she's already told others many times. She loves to tell stories about the experiences of other people who are also infected with HIV. She is the only participant who avoids discussing whether her partner infected her.
It would not be too much of a stretch to suggest that he is also generalizing about himself.
AYANDA
However, when reading the story about this other woman, it is significant that she says,. When she refers to forcing them to use condoms, she says it's because they know she is. She reveals her emotions of shock and disbelief when she was told she was HIV positive.
She was tested for HIV along with the other children and turned out to be negative. So she thought she was safe. Her use of the word “confession” suggests that she is admitting a dirty and sinful secret. She doesn't currently practice her religion, but has been religious in the past, so it's possible she feels like this is a dirty, sinful secret.
She does not find religion as a support like the other women because she feels that she will be judged by the 'church people'.
ZAMA
Concluding Comments
The most significant feature of this section proved to be a consideration of how agency appears and what function it serves in women's narratives. Poverty was a widespread aspect of women's lives as most of them and their partners were unemployed or had part-time jobs that did not pay well. All five participants were still in a relationship with the same partner they were with when they found out they were HIV positive.
They had all told their partners and most of the women had experienced much-needed support. All the women stated either openly or more covertly that they believed they had been infected by unfaithful partners. All participants had experienced fairly high levels of support from at least some family members and friends.
They made the most of the opportunities they had been given, especially the opportunity to access ART.
6.2) Limitations to Transferability
None of the participants felt abandoned when they disclosed their HIV-positive status to their partners. One of the women even said that her husband now accompanied her to the clinic where he was also being treated. In most research, the analysis process is hidden and the findings are presented as if they simply came from the text and captured the truth of the situation.
Therefore, although it could be said that my quite clear removal from the world of the participants meant that I could not understand their lives;. Participants may have felt that because they were given access to free ART, they were obligated to participate. In fact, due to the politics of ART in South Africa, most research on ART is conducted within government clinic settings.
The most obvious of these is the role of religion or belief and how this relates to participants' acceptance of having HIV/AIDS.
Interview Questions
Explain the aims of the research: These are to understand how you feel when you are diagnosed as HIV positive and are receiving treatment. Hopefully this will make it easier for others to test and obtain drugs in the future.
A FOCUSED LIFE HISTORY AROUND HIV
CURRENT EXPERIENCE OF ARV TREATMENT
THE FUTURE
