Experiences of people living with HIV and people living close to them of a comprehensive HIV stigma reduction community intervention in an urban and a rural setting

Abstract

HIV stigma remains high globally. Although there is a selection of HIV stigma reduction interventions discussed in the literature, there is a paucity of research about the effectiveness of these interventions. This study aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the experiences of people living with HIV (PLWH) and people living close to them from six designated groups during and after having undergone a comprehensive HIV stigma reduction community intervention in both an urban and a rural setting. Attention was focused on their expressed  experiences of the workshop and projects executed. A qualitative interpretive description approach was used. PLWH as participants were selected through purposive voluntary sampling and through snowball sampling for the people living close to them. Recruitment was from both urban and rural settings in the North West Province, South Africa. Data collection was via in-depth interviews with 23 PLWH and 60 people living close to them from specific designated groups. The data were thematically analysed through manual open coding. The results from the urban and rural settings were pooled, as there were no noteworthy differences in the themes between them. The results indicated that there was an increase in knowledge in all the groups, as well as experiences of enhanced relationships and of being equipped with leadership skills in order to go out into the community and being part of HIV stigma reduction actions. The intervention in its comprehensive nature was found to have been successful and promising for future use in reducing HIV stigma.

Keywords: community, comprehensive, HIV, intervention, stigma

La stigmatisation lie´e au VIH est re´pandue dans le monde. Bien que la documentation sur le sujet aborde un ensemble d’interventions en faveur de sa re´duction, les recherches sur l’efficacite´ de telles interventions restent limite´es. Cette e´tude vise donc a` mieux comprendre l’expe´rience des personnes vivant avec le VIH (PVVIH) et de leur entourage dans six groupes se´lectionne´s pendant et apre`s une intervention communautaire globale de re´duction de la stigmatisation lie´e au VIH, en milieu urbain et rural. L’on a accorde´ une attention  particulie`re aux expe´riences partage´es sur l’atelier et les projets entrepris. Une approche de description qualitative et interpre´tative a e´te´ adopte´e. Les PVVIH participantes ont e´te´ se´lectionne´es graˆce a` un e´chantillonnage dirige´ et volontaire, et un e´chantillon boule de neige pour l’entourage. Les personnes recrute´es provenaient de milieux urbains et ruraux de la province du Nord-Ouest, Afrique du Sud. La collecte de donne´es s’est faite par des entretiens approfondis avec 23 PVVIH et 60 personnes de leur entourage, toutes issues de groupes spe´cifiques de´signe´s. Les donne´es ont e´te´ analyse´es the´matiquement par codage  ouvert et manuel. Les re´sultats des milieux urbains et ruraux ont ensuite e´te´ regroupe´s car il ne semblait pas y avoir de diffe´rence remarquable entre les the`mes souleve´s dans les deux milieux. Dans tous les  groupes, les re´sultats indiquaient un accroissement des connaissances, de l’ame´lioration des relations, et des compe´tences de leadership pour prendre part a` la vie communautaire et participer aux activite´s de re´duction de la stigmatisation. La re´ussite de la nature globale de l’intervention est prometteuse pour les activite´s  futures de re´duction de la stigmatisation du VIH.

Mots-cle´s: communaute´, global(e), VIH, intervention, stigmatisation