Frozen in a Moment in Time: The Experiences of Mothers Being Diagnosed With HIV Infection

When Pregnancy Coincides with Positive Diagnosis of HIV: Accounts of the Process of Acceptance of Self and Motherhood among Women in South Africa

Literature has highlighted the unique period of vulnerability following an HIV diagnosis during pregnancy. Despite the high burden of HIV among pregnant women in South Africa, the experiences of women diagnosed with HIV during pregnancy have rarely been explored in isolation from those diagnosed at different times. This paper explored the experiences of women who were diagnosed with HIV when pregnant and assessed their emotional recovery beyond diagnosis. The study used a qualitative descriptive phenomenological approach to conduct interviews with women recruited from ART clinics in a health district in South Africa. Participants included 19 women sampled purposively. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed following the thematic approach. Testing positive during pregnancy and being free of symptoms increased the shock, disbelief, and strong emotions exhibited. For the women, the diagnosis of HIV coincided with pregnancy and transformed pregnancy from excitement to anxiety. Although the transition from being HIV negative to becoming HIV positive and pregnant was overwhelming, with the passage of time, the women transitioned to feelings of acceptance. However, the process of acceptance was slow and varied, with some experiencing non-acceptance for extended periods. Non-acceptance of HIV diagnosis has serious adverse public health consequences for the individual. Integrating continuous HIV counselling and culturally appropriate psychosocial care into practice could foster acceptance for pregnant women with HIV diagnosis.

Parenting the child with HIV in limited resource communities in South Africa: mothers with HIV's emotional vulnerability and hope for the future

Introduction:

A diagnosis of HIV does not affect the well-being of mothers alone but also affects how they care for their children. The aim of this study was to explore how mothers who were diagnosed with HIV when pregnant or when their children became ill experience raising children living with HIV. The purpose was to understand how a diagnosis of HIV impacts mothering their children at different points on the mothering journey.

Methods:

Using descriptive phenomenological enquiry, interviews were conducted with 28 mothers recruited via purposeful sampling from clinics in health district in South Africa. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analysed following the thematic approach.

Results:

The mothers found mothering a child living with HIV stressful and associated with constant thoughts of death. The burden of mothering was increased for mothers who had to confront emotions of self-blame and guilt for unintentionally infecting the child. They used secrecy to protect their children from the social consequences of a diagnosis of HIV. The thought of living with HIV weighed on them every day and they expressed their experience of intense feelings of chronic worry, anxiety, and sadness. The findings identified high levels of stress, with the mothers expressing emotions suggestive of depression. With time, they accepted living with HIV and embraced motherhood, and became better mothers.

Conclusion:

The negative coping strategies used to deal with the child’s HIV diagnosis and high levels of stress and anxiety identified in the study underscore the need to address the psychosocial needs of mothers living with HIV. There is need to provide psychosocial support and continuous counselling for these mothers post diagnosis and upon a positive HIV diagnosis of the child to women enrolled in the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV programme.

Life Experience of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Sufferers: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Introduction: HIV is a chronic disease that continues to increase from year to year, with many symptoms or obstacles encountered by HIV sufferers when going about their day. The experience of HIV sufferers is important to know in order to find out what they have experienced for as long as they have had the disease. The objective of this qualitative systematic review is to describe the experiences of people living with HIV.Methods: The method used was searching for journals using the pre-determined keywords of ‘experience’, ‘living with HIV’ and ‘coping’ through the databases of Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed and Sage between 2014 and 2019.Results: The study results showed that there was still discrimination against people with HIV. They also experienced health problems due to the effects of the therapy, unpreparedness in accepting their conditions and the prevention of transmission to their family members.Conclusion: Understanding the role of uncertainty, stigma and resilience is important, since these factors may very well contribute to the patient’s mental health.