Browsing by Author "Nash, Megan Renee"

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    A description of recorded HIV status in persons with disabilities at Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Nash, Megan Renee; Geiger, Martha; Bardien, Faeza; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences: Centre for Rehabilitation Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It is only recently that research on HIV and persons with disabilities has started to emerge. There still remains, however, a lack of research on the prevalence of HIV infection in persons with disabilities. The challenges facing HIV prevalence studies include that persons need to be tested for HIV to be able to be certain of HIV status. Issues related to disclosure and accessibility to health care further limit HIV prevalence studies, especially in the disabled population where stigmatisation and marginalisation, due to the disability, already exist. This research assignment aimed to yield some preliminary quantitative information on HIV disease in the population of persons with disabilities admitted to WCRC. It aimed to describe the HIV status information as recorded in the medical files of in-patients admitted to WCRC in a 6-month period. A cross-sectional design was applied in this exploratory study. Data was collected through an audit of 331 clients‟ clinical records. Variable information collected was type of disability, gender, population group, age, the source documents used to gather data, and recorded information regarding HIV status (i.e. positive, negative or unknown). The source documents used to gather information were medical records, laboratory results, pharmacy scripts and therapy notes. The recorded information in the medical records and therapy notes was, however, subject to client disclosure. The unknown subset in the sample included folders with HIV status recorded as unknown as well as folders lacking any HIV information, which constituted a major limitation of the study. 16.4% of females were recorded with an HIV positive status, compared to only 6.51% of males. Per population group, Black African clients had the highest number of recorded HIV positive status whereas Coloured clients had the highest recorded unknown HIV status. The recorded HIV positive status information of the study sample was 9.97%, which is comparable to the national estimate of 9.9%. The results indicate that a better understanding of the undercurrents driving HIV information recording and disclosure in the disabled population of WCRC is needed. According to the literature, various factors could contribute to disclosure or non-disclosure of HIV status, such as fear of stigmatisation, lack of access to testing and social marginalisation. This study aims to provide a first step in research, and specifically in hypothesis generating research, of HIV information recording and supports the need for HIV prevalence studies in the disabled population.