ADOLESCENT GIRLS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT HIV AND AIDS RELATED RISKY BEHAVIOURS: ARE WE CLOSER TO COMBATING THE PANDEMIC AMONG SOUTH AFRICA’S YOUTHS?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/1727-7140/1817Keywords:
Adolescents, HIV and AIDS, South Africa, PerceptionsAbstract
South Africa has reportedly the largest number of people living with HIV and AIDS in the world. Although adolescents as a group comprises the greatest portion of infected people, their behaviours and perceptions about the disease leave a lot to be desired. The purpose of this article is to explore some South African adolescent girls’ risky behaviours and perceptions about HIV and AIDS. A qualitative case study approach, using a school in Soweto, Johannesburg, was adopted. The paradigmatic position was interpretive. Twelve adolescent girls aged between 15 and 19 were purposively selected to participate in semi-structured interviews. Data were qualitatively processed to discern themes. Results showed that adolescent girls have comprehensive knowledge about HIV and AIDS, but they indulge in risky sexual behaviours because of ignorance, peer influence and a need to access government child support grants. The study concludes that unless there is a sharp turn-around in the youthful adolescent girls’ perspectives on HIV and AIDS, the country’s efforts to attain a Sustainable Development Goal of combatting HIV and AIDS, will remain elusive.
References
Basen-Engquist, K. and Parcel, G. S. 1992. Attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy: A model of adolescents’ HIV-related sexual risk behavior. Health Education and Behavior, 19(2): 263–277. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/109019819201900209
Boulle, A., Van Cutsem, G., Hilderbrand, K., Cragg, C., Abrahams, M., Mathee, S., and Goemaere, E. 2010. Seven-year experience of a primary care antiretroviral treatment programme in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Aids, 24(4): 563–572. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/QAD.0b013e328333bfb7
Brook, D. W., Morojele, N. K., Zhang, C., and Brook, J. S. 2006. South African adolescents: Pathways to risky sexual behavior. AIDS Education & Prevention, 18(3): 259–272. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1521/aeap.2006.18.3.259
Casale, M., Rogan, M., Hynie, M., Flicker, S., Nixon, S. and Rubincam, C. 2011. Gendered perceptions of HIV risk among young women and men in a high-HIV-prevalence setting. African Journal of AIDS Research, 10 (supplement): 301–310. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2989/16085906.2011.637728
Castro, K. G. C., Ward, J. W., Slutsker, L., Buehler, J. W., Jaffe, H. W. and Berkelman, R. L. 1993. Revised classification system for HIV infection and expanded surveillance case definition for AIDS among adolescents and adults. Retrieved from http://anrs.fr/layout/set/print/content/download/1971/11763/file/CDC-Adult-MMWR-1992-Vol41-RR17.pdf (accessed 27 April 2016).
Meda and Makura Adolescent girls’ perceptions about HIV and Aids-related risky behaviours Cluver, L., Boyes, M., Orkin, M., Pantelic, M., Molwena, T. and Sherr, L. 2013. Child-focused state cash transfers and adolescent risk of HIV infection in South Africa: A propensity-scorematched case-control study. The Lancet Global Health, 1(6): e362–e370. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(13)70115-3
Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrisson, K. 2007. Research methods in education. 6th Edition. New York: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203029053
Creswell, W. J. 2008. Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. 3rd Edition. New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Creswell, J. W. 2012. Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Boston: Pearson.
Das, B. R., Sarkar, A. H., Nath, G., Tamuli, P. and Kakoti, G. 2016. Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding HIV/AIDS amongst the adolescents – a hospital based study. International Journal of Health Sciences and Research, 6(1): 1–7.
HEAIDS. 2007. Case studies in mainstreaming: Integrating HIV and AIDS realities into South African higher education curriculum. Pretoria: Higher Education South Africa.
Ike, E. U and Oluwatosin, A. 2016. Evaluation of adolescents’ level of HIV/AIDS awareness and sexual behaviour in selected secondary schools in Ibadan. International Journal of Health Sciences and Research, 6(1): 290–298.
Lowenthal, E. D., Bakeera-Kitaka, S., Marukutira, T., Chapman, J., Goldrath, K. and Ferrand, R. A. 2014. Perinatally acquired HIV infection in adolescents from sub-Saharan Africa: A review of emerging challenges. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 14(7): 627–639. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(13)70363-3
MacPhail, C. L., Pettifor, A., Coates, T., and Rees, H. 2008. ‘You must do the test to know your status’: Attitudes to HIV voluntary counseling and testing for adolescents among South African youth and parents. Health Education & Behavior, 35(1): 87–104. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198106286442
Maharaj, P. 2006. Reasons for condom use among young people in KwaZulu-Natal: Prevention of HIV, pregnancy or both? Int Fam Plan Perspect., 32(1): 28–34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1363/3202806
Meda, L. 2013. Assessing factors influencing university students to uptake voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) of human immune deficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). Journal of AIDS and HIV Research, 5(6): 173–180. Retrieved from http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1379689045_Meda.pdf
Mertens, M. D. 2012. Ethics in qualitative research in education and the social sciences. In S. D. Lapan., M. T. Quartaroli and F. J. Riemer (Eds.), Qualitative research: An introduction to methods and designs, 19–40. San Franscisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mishna, F., Antle, J. B. and Regehr, C. 2004. Tapping the perspectives of children: Emerging ethical issues in qualitative research. Qualitative Social Work, 3(4): 449–468. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325004048025
Nabunya, P., Ssewamala, F. M., Mukasa, M. N., Byansi, W. and Nattabi, J. 2015. Peer mentorship program on HIV/AIDS knowledge, beliefs, and prevention attitudes among orphaned adolescents: An evidence based practice. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 10(4): 345–356.
National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs and TB 2012–2016. Retrieved from http://www.sahivsoc.org/upload/documents/National_Strategic_Plan_2012.pdf
Oladepo, O. and Fayemi, M. M. 2011. Perceptions about sexual abstinence and knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention among in-school adolescents in a western Nigerian city. BMC Public Health, 11(1): 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-304
Meda and Makura Adolescent girls’ perceptions about HIV and Aids-related risky behaviours Rashad, I. and Kaestner, R. 2004. Teenage sex, drugs and alcohol use: Problems identifying the cause of risky behaviors. Journal of Health Economics, 23(3): 493–503. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2003.09.009
Kosslyn, S. M. and Rosenberg, R. S. 2001. Psychology: The brain, the person, the world. Boston: Allyn.
Statistics South Africa. 2014. Mid-year population estimates, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0302/P03022014.pdf
UNAIDS. 2014. The Gap report. Retrieved from http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/unaidspublication/2014/UNAIDS_Gap_report_en.pdf (accessed 9August 2014).
Watt, M. H., Aunon, F. M., Skinner, D., Sikkema, K. J., Kalichman, S. C. and Pieterse, D. 2012. ‘Because he has bought for her, he wants to sleep with her’: Alcohol as a currency for sexual exchange in South African drinking venues. Social Science & Medicine, 74(7): 1005–1012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.12.022
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright will be vested in Unisa Press. However, as long as you do not use the article in ways which would directly conflict with the publisher’s business interests, you retain the right to use your own article (provided you acknowledge the published version of the article) as follows:
- to make further copies of all or part of the published article for your use in classroom teaching;
- to make copies of the final accepted version of the article for internal distribution within your institution, or to place it on your own or your institution’s website or repository, or on a site that does not charge for access to the article, but you must arrange not to make the final accepted version of the article available to the public until 18 months after the date of acceptance;
- to re-use all or part of this material in a compilation of your own works or in a textbook of which you are the author, or as the basis for a conference presentation.
Accepted 2016-11-08
Published 2017-03-28