Exploring young men's perceptions of care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS.
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Date
2014
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Abstract
Care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) in South Africa, is primarily
provided by women in the local community, with young men largely absent. Understanding
young men’s perceptions and understandings of care and support for PLWHAs, and what role
they feel they play has been under-researched and inadequately conceptualised. This study
explores the meanings that young men associate with care and support for PLWHAs in their
communities. Data was collected from a semi-structured focus group of six young men, and
later 3 semi-structured interviews with three of the young men from the focus group, from a
peri-urban area in KwaZulu Natal. The data was analysed using Interpretive Practice,
drawing on social capital theory, and the theory of planned behaviour. Findings indicate that
the meanings these young men associate with care and support for PLWHAs are complex,
contradictory and influenced by multiple discourses, expectations, and aspirations. Care and
support for PLWHAs represents a set of roles and tasks which young men simultaneously
feel expected to perform, as well as ridiculed for performing, by both men and women. It
requires careful negotiation into roles which are acceptable by hegemonic masculinity, and
do not intrude on women’s social space as caregivers. Alternate roles are fulfilling for young
men, such as economic provider, joker, loyal friend, and protector, particularly because it
provides a means to construct and sustain masculine respect and identity. Importantly, not all
young men associate the same meanings to care and support for PLWHAs, nor construct and
sustain their masculine identities the same way. Interventions seeking to encourage young
men to engage in care and support for PLWHAs need to understand masculinity, femininity
and the implications of the roles prescribed in their intervention. Individual interpretations
and embodiment by each young man should also be facilitated if the messages are to be
accepted and change behaviour effectively.
Description
M.A. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014.
Keywords
AIDS (Disease) in adolescence., Teenagers -- Diseases., HIV infections -- Psychology., HIV-positive persons -- Care., Theses -- Health promotion.