On the road to HIV/AIDS competence in the household: Building a health-enabling environment for people living with HIV/AIDS

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Date
2015Author
Masquillier, Caroline
Wouters, Edwin
Van Wyk, Brian
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When aiming to provide chronic disease care within the context of human
resource shortages, we should not only consider the responsibility of the individual person
living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) but also the capacity of the social environment to actively
encourage a lifestyle that fosters health. In this social environment, extensive efforts are thus
required to increase HIV/AIDS knowledge, reduce stigma, stimulate HIV testing, improve
health care-seeking behavior, and encourage safe sexual practices—described in the
literature as the need for AIDS competence. In accordance with socio-ecological theory,
one cannot restrict the research focus to communities, as AIDS competence studies should
also incorporate the intermediate household level. In responding to this research need, the
aim of this article is to conceptualize an “HIV/AIDS competent household” based on
qualitative interviews and focus group discussions conducted in a township on the outskirts
of Cape Town, South Africa. Our results show that a household’s supportive response to
disclosure allows a patient to live openly as HIV positive in the household concerned.