Academic literature on the topic 'HIV/AIDS counselling Botswana'

In this study both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to find out to what extent the Lobatse Town Council employees used Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) HIV and AIDS services, the reasons for using or not using the services, the preferred service providers reasons for choosing a service provider. Lastly recommendations were made on how the uptake HIV and AIDS VCT services could increased amongst the employees. A sample of 200 respondents was selected from the employees of the Lobatse Town Council, and it was established that 65.5 percent of the respondents had used VCT. Females had a higher testing participation rates than males, white collar respondents had a higher testing participation than the blue collar respondents. There was a higher rate amongst the married than the single respondents and the older ages of 30 and above than the young ages of 29 years and under. In the study it was also established that the majority of the respondents considered voluntary counselling and testing for HIV and AIDS as being important. However there were some groups that were more positive than others regarding the importance of testing. More females than males were positive regarding the importance of testing, and also amongst the employment categories the white collar respondents were more positive than the blue collar respondents regarding the importance of HIV and AIDS testing. Furthermore it was established that the most important reason for testing amongst the employees that did test for HIV and AIDS was that they felt that they needed to undergo testing before they tested. The respondents that did not test for HIV and AIDS indicated that the most important reason for not testing was that they were scared the results could not be kept confidential. The research also showed that the most preferred service provider was Tebelopele. Tebelopele was the most used and preferred service provider amongst both gender and age groups, all marital groups and the blue collar group in the employment categories. However, for the white collar group the most preferred service provider was the private practitioners. The most common reason for choosing a service provider was confidentiality and privacy. Lastly, the research makes recommendations on what needs to be done to increase the uptake of VCT HIV and AIDS testing amongst the Lobatse Town Council employees. One of the recommendations is that there was a need to educate the employees of the Lobatse Town Council and that the education should be specific for each group. For example from the group discussion the participants felt that the reason to why males did not want to utilise HIV and AIDS VCT was because they lacked knowledge on the importance of testing. Also the respondents indicated that there was a need to remove stigma and discrimination through removing confidentiality attached to HIV and AIDS. It was also, recommended that the Lobatse Town Council formulate and implements a workplace policy on HIV and AIDS

Bibliography: leaves 75-77.<br>This research investigated the extent to which explanations of the aetiology, course, treatment, and prognosis of Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are shared or differ between African health workers (counsellors) and their African clients who are affected. Medical anthropology and constructionist theory provided theoretical frameworks to explore the significance and meaning of explanations as well as implications for counselling objectives. A qualitative methodology, drawn from theoretical models which emphasize the cultural construction of explanations of disease, was used. Findings suggest that counsellors' explanations are medical and objective with passive notions of bodily processes, while clients' explanations reflect subjective, personal experiences with the condition attributed to active human agency, supernatural and natural powers. Both counsellors and clients use personal characteristics, social stereotypes and people's actions as determinants for infection. The findings suggest that clients use these to empower themselves in order to cope with the disease, while counsellors use them to assert their power both over clients and in the health care systems; and thus contribute to obstacles in counselling. Suggestions for addressing issues in HIV/AIDS counselling and recommendations for future research in this area are included.

This study endeavoured to explore and describe the experiences of social workers in their intervention with HIV and AIDS clients within the Department of Clinical Services of the Ministry of Health in Botswana. The researcher undertook a qualitative research study, using an exploratory, descriptive and contextual design to explore these experiences as perceived by the social workers. The method of data collection included semi-structured face-to-face interviews, as this was deemed most appropriate to the nature of the study. Data analysis was undertaken according to the outline of Tesch (1990), as stated in Creswell (1994:155). The findings were reported as themes, sub-themes and categories emanating from the data-analysis process. In ensuring the trustworthiness of the findings, the researcher adhered to Guba’s (1981) model (in Krefting, 1991:251). The research findings were subjected to a literature control, and culminated in the compiling of the research report. The research findings centred around the following five themes: · experiences of intervention with HIV and AIDS clients; · challenges in HIV and AIDS intervention; · measures to alleviate challenges of HIV and AIDS intervention; · intervention strategies utilised by social workers; and · suggestions and advice to new social workers. The recommendations resulting from this research project proposed inter alia that social workers need to be trained in specific and specialised areas related to HIV and AIDS intervention in the health setting, and that the support structures and a holistic multidisciplinary service delivery approach need to be put in place to assist social workers to be able to meet the needs of the clients as well as their own needs. Key Words: participants, clients/patient, qualitative, HIV and AIDS, experiences, intervention, strategies.

Bibliography: leaves 52-63.<br>This study undertakes a discourse analysis of a counselling session with an HIV positive man. Literature, informed by post-structuralism, on the representations and practices that surround the HIV/AIDS epidemic is examined as a background to the study. Self psychological theory concerning mourning, the psychodynamic consequences of having AIDS and selfobject phantasies is examined. This theory is criticised for ignoring the content of phantasies as well as the imbrication of the subject within the social. In an attempt to address these gaps theorisation of stigma and gendered development is introduced, as well as Hollway's (1984) broadly Foucauldian notions of investment in subject positionings. A multiple theoretical position conceptualising counselling as (inter)subjective process re-producing particular subject positionings is developed. The relations between various subject positions are described, drawing on self psychological theory to consider the investments the participants in the session may have had in each position. The analytic reading suggests that in the elaboration of particular selfobject phantasies the HIV positive client is able to cohese his sense of self and to disavow a knowing of himself as a stigmatised person with AIDS. The counsellor, through subject positionings which are in conjuncture with those of the client, disavows a knowing of the client as a person with AIDS. Through these positionings a necessary allusion of attunement is produced, allowing the counsellor to mirror the client. From this analysis various implications for consultation, supervision and training are drawn. The study .suggests that multiple ways in which HIV I AIDS is represented requires psychologists to explore their own positionings with regards to salient HIV/AIDS related issues, as these positionings have effects in work in this field.

The Republic of Botswana (2011a) recognises behaviour change as the only long term solution to the HIV and AIDS epidemic that has become a leading health and development challenge for the country. The study aimed to examine how Talk Back, an interactive HIV and AIDS educational programme on Botswana television, capacitates the school community to deal with challenges brought about by the HIV and AIDS epidemic. The study was based on recordings of 2014 Term One theme— ‘Paediatric care and support: challenges and implications in the teaching and learning environment. The study conducted a content analysis of Talk Back to determine behaviour change communication categories employed in producing the programme. All aspects of the Talk Back programme were also analysed to establish communication strategies employed in the presentation of content. Talk Back employed communication approaches such as panel discussions of matters related to HIV and AIDS by various specialists, video clips to present content, and viewers phoning in to interact with the panellists. A number of the callers identified challenges; the most common identified challenge was that parents tended not to disclose their children’s HIV status to the children due to the negative social stigma attached to HIV and AIDS. Although Talk Back provides a forum for interactive behaviour change communication, some listeners questioned the use of technical language.