Perceptions of youth about voluntary confidential counselling and testing (VCCT) for HIV and AIDS

[摘要] The total number of HIV infections in South Africa is expected to increase well into the nextdecade. Infections will continue to increase, especially among the youth until societyappreciates the extent of the epidemic, and people alter their behaviour and their response tothose people who are infected and affected (LoveLife, 2001: 4). Programmes aimed at changingsexual behaviour have often been successful in other countries like Uganda, Kenya. Earlydiagnosis through Voluntary Confidential Counselling and Testing (VCCT) for HIV / AIDSwith intensive education and support has been reported to be successful in changing sexualbehaviour.The researcher conducted a qualitative study at a secondary school in Mangaung Municipalityat the Motheo District. The purpose of the study was to:•Explore and describe the perceptions of the youth on Voluntary ConfidentialCounselling and Testing for HIV / AIDS.•EMake recommendations to influence HIV/AIDS policies.The study used the explorative, descriptive, contextual and qualitative designs to explore theperceptions of the youth about VCCT on HIV/AIDS.A pilot study was conducted first before the main study in order to:•Test the research question for ambiguity, clarity and researchability.•Detect and correct problems with the design, which would interfere with the datacollection of the main study.•Refine the data collection and analysis plan.•Give the researcher experience with the participants, setting and method ofmeasurement.Data collection was done using focus group interviews. Four focus group interviews wereconducted at the participants' setting. The credibility of this study was assured by using askilled moderator to conduct the interviews, who is also a Masters Degree student. The studyleader, who has a PhD in Nursing and is the Head of the Research Unit in the School of Nursingwas a eo-coder and supervised the data collection process. Participants had to respond to anopen-ended question:What is your perception about Voluntary Confidential Counselling and Testing (VCCT) forHIV and AIDS?The data collected was analyzed according to the KAPB-model (knowledge, attitude, practiceand beliet). The KAPB-model is commonly used to measure perceptions. The KAPB Modelwas derived from the Health Belief Model which was proposed in the 1960s as a framework forexploring why people who are illness-free take actions to avoid illness while others fail to takeprotective actions. KAPB studies are based on an assumption that simple knowledge e.g.HIV/AIDS is sexually transmitted and that it kills will lead to attitude and behaviour change(Morna and Lush, 2003: Online).The purpose of data analysis was to discover categories, sub-categories and themes related tothe perceptions of the youth about VCCT. Two main broad categories were identified namelypositive and negative. The positive and negative comments were further classified under thesub-categories. Related themes that emerged from the data were grouped together and werefitted under relevant sub-categories (knowledge, attitudes, practices and beliefs).The subcategories and themes such as must test, know your status, self concept, behaviourchange and factors influencing the spread of HIV / AIDS were repeated until the saturationpoint was reached.Recommendations were made to the Departments of Education and Health.

[发布机构] University of the Free State