Faculty of Humanities
School of Professional Social Sciences
Department of Psychology
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
More than 600 pregnant patients with HIV from the Atteridgeville and Mamelodi antenatal clinics took part in the Serithi project. They joined the study shortly after they were diagnosed. Their involvement ended when their children reached the age of two. The aim of the study was to follow the progression of the disease, its influence on nutrition, the psychological impact, the experience of stigma and the impact of a support intervention. Women’s experiences of stigma, depression, social support and coping were studied, as well as the levels of disclosure of their HIV-status. Additionally, a community survey involving 1 077 participants was done to assess the level of stigma in the communities from which the women originated, and to compare the experiences of different groups. The research made a number of findings, among others that 43% of the women experienced high levels of depression after diagnosis. One third of the women in the cohort had not disclosed their HIV status to their partners three months after diagnosis. Women who felt stigmatised reported a history of violence and used avoidant coping were less likely to disclose their status. Women with HIV experienced the level of stigma much worse than others in their community. They did not experience high levels of enacted stigma. On the contrary, after disclosing their status, most of the women experienced acceptance from family members, although a few experienced serious adverse consequences, such as being abandoned by their partners (2.3%), being physically hurt (1.7%) and threatened to be killed (1.2%). Over time, women coped better with their diagnosis and experienced less stigma. An interesting finding was that the stigma the community attached to HIV might be decreasing as the epidemic develops over time and people become more knowledgeable about HIV and get to know more people with HIV. The HIV support intervention was found to be effective to enhance women’s active coping strategies and level of disclosure, compared to a similar control group that did not participate in the intervention. Support groups can therefore contribute to women’s psychological wellbeing. The findings of the study were used to develop an intervention for HIV-positive women. The intervention involved 150 HIV-positive women who each attended ten weekly group sessions as part of an experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The intervention was found to be effective to enhance women’s active coping strategies and level of disclosure compared to a similar control group that did not participate in the intervention
Contact person: Prof MJ Visser.
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