Challenges experienced by community home-based caregivers caring for people living with HIV/AIDS: A case of Tsianda Village in Makhado Municipality, South Africa

Abstract

Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) place a significant burden on the caregivers for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Caring for PLWHA is usually carried out by community members who are recruited from the same community as the PLWHA. These community members are trained to provide services as volunteer caregivers. The caregivers face various challenges in the process of giving care to PLWHA, often inadequately assisted by relatives, friends, neighbours, private individuals, grassroots traditional and political leaders. This results in caregivers being overwhelmed by their responsibilities, making their coping process even more difficult. The aim of this study was to explore the challenges experienced by community home-based caregivers (CHBCGs) caring for people living with HIV/AIDS at Tsianda Village, in Makhado Municipality, South Africa. This study adopted a qualitative explorative design. The population for this study were all CHBCGs caring for PLWHA. Non probability purposive sampling was used to select the community home-based caregivers working at Tsianda Community Home-based care organisation. In-depth interviews, using a semi-structured interview guide, was conducted by the researcher and a voice recorder were used to record data from participants. Data saturation was reached at the 11th participant. This is when the participants were no longer giving new information. The data collected from the study were analysed thematically. The following themes emerged from data analysis: Challenges for community home-based caregivers, perceived support for community home-based caregivers, coping strategies for community home-based caregivers. Measures to ensure trustworthiness and the code of ethics to protect the rights of the participants was applied and observed. The findings of the study revealed that community home-based caregivers experience various challenges which have a negative impact on their personal life, as well as their physical and psychological wellbeing. Community home-based care also uses different strategies to cope with these challenges. It was concluded that the community home-based caregivers are experiencing serious shortages of personal protective equipment, which makes them work with the fear of being infected with the diseases. It is recommended that the DOH should take it into consideration to provide the CHBCG’s organization with enough personal protective equipment for their safety and working without fear of being infected with deadly viruses.