Expansion and deepening of social support systems for female caregivers who attended a group-based HIV prevention programme in Soweto, South Africa

Abstract

The steady rise of family-based interventions to prevent HIV infections among adolescent girls has necessitated the need for empirical evidence to gauge their acceptability and impact. This qualitative study explored the experiences of female caregivers who attended the “Let’s Talk,” HIV prevention Programme. The study used semi-structured interviews with caregivers who participated in the Let’s Talk Programme. Twelve caregivers were purposively sampled to participate in the study. Data was analyzed using a thematic analysis approach, which entailed manual categorization and coding the data into themes and subthemes using a deductive approach. The findings indicate that through attending Let’s Talk sessions, the caregivers’ social support networks widened and deepened, ultimately leading to sharing and transference of problem solving and parenting skills. The conclusion is that the expansion and deepening of the caregivers’ social networks provide empirical evidence of Let’s Talk’s efficacy in facilitating desired outcomes. It is recommended that the Let’s Talk Programme needs to be up scaled in its current format within South Africa and other resource limited settings of Africa. This study only covered a small geographic area of Soweto, there is therefore scope for further research incorporating a bigger sample of participants drawn from a larger geographic area.