The perceptions of voluntary aids caregivers concerning hospice managers' provision of support

[摘要] English: The challenge of HIV/AIDS is a global issue. Instead of decreasing thenumber of people infected with the disease is increasing. Fortunately wehave men and women who volunteer to fight the increase of thispandemic. These heroes and heroines are voluntary AIDS caregivers whoare the mainstay of care of people with AIDS.However, the fact that caregivers suffer from loneliness and socialisolation related to stigma and discrimination cannot be ignored(cjFlaskerud & Tabora, 1998:21). Voluntary caregivers could benefitfrom the opportunity to express basic emotions concerning financial,emotional, physical issues and an open line of communication should bein place. Providing an avenue for emotional expression may enhance bothphysical and mental health to voluntary AIDS caregivers.This is a qualitative study undertaken to explore the perceptions ofvoluntary AIDS caregivers concerning hospice managers' provision ofsupport. An explorative, descriptive, contextual and qualitative designwas used to determine the perceptions of AIDS caregivers concerninghospice managers.Voluntary AIDS caregivers were selected from hospices of the MotheoDistrict. A pilot study was conducted prior to the commencement of themain study. This resulted in paraphrasing the central question as in thegrand tour (Spradley, 1980:49), Marrow and Smith (1995:42) who askquestion such as; Tell me about your self.Initially two focus groups were selected, comprising of ten participants ineach group. Participants were requested without leading them to givedetailed information during interviews. Saturation principle was notreached with the two focus groups, as there was no redundancy ofinformation. Subsequently two more focus groups were selected in anendeavor to reach the required saturation point. Eventually four focusgroups participated in the study.Data collected was analysed according to Tesch [1990] in Creswell(1994:155) and also by making use of the N VIVO program, a design forqualitative research used to ensure that the complex data was correctlyand systematically analysed.The data analysis was followed by a literature control. The findings withregard to the perceptions of voluntary AIDS caregivers concerninghospice managers' provision of support did not differ significantly inpersonal and vocational support that were identified as main categories.The researcher made recommendations and suggestions were made byvoluntary AIDS caregivers are easy to follow and implement. Limitationsencountered are discussed.

[发布机构] University of the Free State