There is a recognized gap in the evidence base relating to the nature and components of interventions to address the psycho-social needs of HIV positive young people. We used mixed methods research to strengthen a community support group intervention for HIV positive young people based in Harare, Zimbabwe. A quantitative questionnaire was administered to HIV positive Africaid support group attendees. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Self-reported adherence to antiretrovirals was sub-optimal.
Qualitative findings suggested that challenges faced by positive children include verbal abuse, stigma, and discrimination. While data showed that support group attendance is helpful, young people stressed that life outside the confines of the group was more challenging. Caregivers felt ill-equipped to support the children in their care.
These data, combined with a previously validated conceptual framework for family-centred interventions, were used to guide the development of the existing programme of adolescent support groups into a more comprehensive evidence-based psychosocial support programme encompassing caregiver and household members. This study allowed us to describe the lived experiences of HIV positive young people and their caregivers in Zimbabwe.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. The number of 0β14 year olds living with HIV globally is estimated to be 3.
In , it was estimated that in Zimbabwe, 2. Antiretroviral therapy ART has been available in the public sector since Young people who have survived HIV since birth face several challenges. Their childhoods have been characterized by frequent illness, hospitalization and poor school attendance; they are frequently of small stature, have delayed puberty, intellectual impairment and skin disfiguration [9] , [10].
