Experiences of life orientation among teachers teaching sexuality education in secondary schools in Vhembe and Mopani Districts Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Teachers' experiences regarding sexuality education are significant indicators of teaching sexuality in secondary schools. However, the importance of including sexuality education in the educational system is rising globally. This suggests that Life Orientation (LO) teachers have a unique and vital role to play, one for which they are not always ready, especially when sexuality education is a cross-curricular subject. This study examined teachers' experiences regarding teaching sexuality education in Limpopo Province. This study aimed to explore and describe the experiences of the Life Orientation (LO) teachers teaching sexuality education in secondary schools in Vhembe and Mopani districts Limpopo Province, South Africa. A qualitative, exploratory-descriptive phenomenological design was employed. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with 14 LO teachers from four (4) sets of public secondary schools in Vhembe and Mopani districts. Interviews were audio recorded. Field notes were used to capture nonverbal communication from participants. Data saturation was reached on the seventh (7th) face to face interviews. A Qualitative thematic analysis was employed to analyses data. The results revealed four themes: Participant experiences of sexuality education; Communication concerns; Role shifting in imparting sexuality education and challenges experienced by LO teachers in the classes room. Ethical considerations and trustworthiness was ensured. The study concluded that participants experiences of sexuality education; communication concerns; role shifting in imparting sexuality education operate as barriers to comprehensive sexuality education. Recommendations: teachers need to be equipped with knowledge and skills and to teach various sexuality topics, including providing human and material resources.

Challenges regarding sexual health communication with secondary school learners in Limpopo Province: Parents views.

BACKGROUND: A conversation about sexuality is most likely to encourage healthy and positive sexual practices while reducing risky sexual behaviour among adolescents. Traditionally, sexuality is discussed in hushed tones in proverbs and is reserved for adults. On the other hand, adolescents require to be well informed about their sexuality to assist them to make informed decisions about their sexual behaviour. AIM: The study determined parents' views regarding challenges of sexual health communication among secondary school learners in Limpopo Province. METHOD: A qualitative, exploratory-descriptive, and contextual approach was employed for the study. Fifty-six parents were purposively select, resulting in five focus group discussions that had 8-12 members. One central question was asked, and based on the participants' responses, probing questions asked followed. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Trustworthiness and ethical considerations were ensured. RESULTS: Three themes, that is communication concerns, role shifting in imparting sexuality education and poor parent-child relationships and eight sub-themes emerged from the data. CONCLUSION: Study identified that communication concerns influence parent-child dialogue on sexuality education. Therefore, there is a need to address factors hindering communication like cultural barriers, role shifting in imparting sexuality education, poor parent-child relationships. This study suggests that parents be empowered in dealing with children's sexuality.

Why adult patients on antiretroviral therapy miss clinical appointments in rural villages of Limpopo Province, South Africa: An exploratory study.

Background: Missing clinical appointments while on antiretroviral therapy (ART) is associated with poor adherence to treatment and an increased risk of poor immunological outcomes. Aim: This study explored the reasons why adults missed clinical ART appointments. Setting: The study was conducted in community healthcare centres (CHCs) with high rates of missed appointments by ART patients. Methods: An explorative qualitative research design was used for this study. The population comprised all adult patients on ART who had missed their clinic appointments. The simple random sampling method was used to select sample healthcare centres with high absenteeism from the district health information system. Furthermore, a purposive systematic sampling technique was used to sample ART patients who had missed more than two appointments in a year. Thirty-seven patients were interviewed, as determined by data redundancy, using in-depth individual unstructured interviews, as guided by the following central question: 'How is it for you to miss your clinic appointments?' Tesch's eight steps were used to analyse the data. Results: Participants cited a lack of family support, financial constraints, nondisclosure of HIV status at the workplace and a lack of patient involvement in scheduling appointments as reasons for nonadherence to ART appointments. Conclusion: Missed appointments disrupt the functionality of healthcare systems and negatively impact the quality of patient's care. Patients missing appointment are likely to interrupt HIV care and run a risk of clinical and immunological failure. Contribution: This study contributes to knowledge as to why patients on ART miss appointments. It will also provide practical guidance to come up with a strategy that will reduce missing appointments and to improve adherence to treatment and health outcomes of patients on ART.

Management of epilepsy through indigenous traditional and Western approaches in Africa: A systematic review.

Background: Reaction to epilepsy management has been described as moulded by traditional beliefs, despite the reported progress of anti-epilepsy medication. In Africa, traditional healers are seen as essential in providing epilepsy care, yet little is known about their epilepsy care. Aim: This manuscript aimed to systematically review and summarise the various indigenous traditional and Western methods of epilepsy management and their effectiveness in Africa. Setting: This study is conducted in Africa. Methods: A systematic review was performed, searching MEDLINE (through PubMed), Google Scholar and ScienceDirect data from 2000 to December 2021. The search strategies used terms and medical subject headings 'traditional methods' AND 'epilepsy' AND 'management' AND 'Africa'. The bibliography of the included articles was manually searched. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme and systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials tool were used to identify the validity of studies. Results: The search generated 17 927 articles. After screening for titles and abstracts, duplicate entries were removed and full texts of 22 articles were reviewed. After reading full texts, 12 articles met the inclusion criteria. The themes identified from synthesised data were indigenous traditional and Western methods of epilepsy management. Conclusion: Traditional and faith-based healers were perceived to provide frontline care for people living with epilepsy resulting in considerable delays in seeking anti-epilepsy medication initiation. Furthermore, taking anti-epilepsy treatment was not adequately adhered to. Contribution: Findings would contribute to the body of essential information to create awareness and upskill the community that epilepsy is like any medical condition that needs medical care.

Family Perspectives Related to Caring for Mental Health Care Users: A Case Study in the Long-Term Mental Health Institutions of Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Family involvement in long-term mental health care is a significant therapeutic aspect in managing mentally ill patients. This study aimed to determine the perspectives of family members about caring for mental health care users at selected long-term mental health institutions in Limpopo Province. A qualitative explorative and contextual descriptive design was used. Purposive sampling was used to select family members with mental health care users admitted in long-term health institutions in Limpopo Province. Data were collected with in-depth individual interviews aided by an audio recorder and field notes. Data were qualitatively analysed. Trustworthiness and ethical considerations were ensured. Two themes yielded from the interviews: Perspectives of family members about their involvement in the care of mental health care users and difficulties in caring for mental health care users at home when granted leave of absence or discharged. Sub-themes: Caring for mental health care users leads to an understanding of mental illness; Lack of skill and inability to monitor mental health care users at home; Mental health care users abuse substances during leave of absence which makes family reluctant to request them for visit; Caring for mental health care users at home viewed as a difficult task and stigma from the community. The challenges experienced by family members contribute to poor interaction with mentally ill patients. We recommend that family members of mental health care users be educated about mental illnesses and encouraged to participate in the care of the patients.

An Exploratory-Descriptive Study on the Impact of COVID-19 on Teaching and Learning: The Experiences of Student Nurses in the Rural-Based Historically Disadvantaged University of South Africa.

Covid-19 has disrupted normal working conditions as people were not allowed to assemble in one place. There is a limit that is placed on the number of people congregating in public areas, and these measures also affect the education system worldwide. The purpose of the study was to explore nursing students' experiences in a historically disadvantaged rural-based university on the impact of Covid-19 on teaching and learning. The study employed an exploratory-descriptive qualitative design among nursing students who were purposively sampled to participate in the study. A qualitative self-administered open-ended online google form was used to collect data. Thematic analysis was employed for this study. All ethical measures were respected during this study. Interviews were conducted with 68 participants, including 12 undergraduate second-year students, 7 third-year students, and 49 fourth-year students. A total of 51 females and 17 males participated in this study. The study yielded several themes, including participants' expression of their experiences related to teaching and learning during the national lockdown, participants' views on the impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning/research, and Participants suggested sustainable strategies to promote teaching and learning during the national lockdown. In conclusion, the role of preceptors in all clinical areas should be strengthened to improve clinical teaching and learning. The researchers recommend strengthening collaboration among university lecturers for sharing ideas and finding innovative solutions appropriate for handling any pandemic that threatens teaching and learning processes.

Missing appointments by patients on antiretroviral therapy: Professional nurses' perspective.

BACKGROUND:  Missed appointments for medicine pick-ups are regarded as a predictor of poor adherence, and should trigger immediate questions about issues that may affect follow-up visits to healthcare settings. OBJECTIVES:  The study explored and described professional nurses' perspectives about the factors that contribute to missing appointments by people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (PLWHIV) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) at Mopani and Vhembe district in Limpopo Province. METHOD:  A qualitative explorative contextual approach was used for the study. Non-probability, purposive sampling was used to select 14 professional nurses who met the inclusion criteria. Data were collected through face-to-face unstructured interviews. One central question was asked and probing questions were based on the participants' responses to the central question. Thematic analysis of the findings was carried out. Trustworthiness was ensured through intercoder agreement, audio recording, triangulation, bracketing, and member checking. Required permission, approval, and ethical clearance were also ensured. RESULTS:  Organisational health system and management of the healthcare facility were found to be the barriers that negatively impacted on the ability of the PLWHIV on ART to maintain clinic visits appointments. Lack of patient involvement, stereotyped appointment dates selection, poor patient-provider relationships, errors of recording appointment dates and long waiting times came up as sub-themes derived from the main theme. CONCLUSION:  The results suggest that there is a need to increase and improve mutual trust in patient-provider relationships, improve nurses working conditions, develop proper booking systems and reduce clinic waiting hours.

Experiences of grade 8 learners on sexuality education from home and school at Mopani and Vhembe districts.

Globally, adolescents' risk of sexual behaviour has become a concern owing to the world's poor home and school sexuality education, not excluding both the Mopani and Vhembe Districts of Limpopo Province. This study examined the experiences of grade 8 learners on sexuality education from home and school. The study was mainly qualitative, involving eight focus group discussions [FGDs] with grade 8 learners aged 13-15 years. The findings revealed that participants experience confusion regarding physiological body changes. Inadequate knowledge about contraception noted. Findings further revealed Communication concerns related to Cultural barriers, fear of embarrassment, Reactive sharing of information instead of being proactive and gender stereotype. The study concluded that these concerns operate as barriers to comprehensive sexuality education. The study recommended that learners, parents, and teachers receive training about communication on sexuality to acquire knowledge and improve their communication skills with children.

Managers' support on implementation of maternal guidelines, Limpopo province, South Africa.

BACKGROUND: The report of Saving Mothers indicated a decline of maternal mortality from 12.8% to 12.5% last triennium of 2017. This shows that regardless of availability of national maternal health guidelines, midwives and managers, 25% of maternal deaths were caused by preventable and avoidable factors. As such, support provided by managers is vital in promoting the utilisation of maternal guidelines. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to determine the support offered by managers to midwives during the implementation of maternal health guidelines. METHOD: The study design was cross-sectional descriptive in a quantitative domain. Simple random sampling was used to select 58 operational managers and two maternal managers. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23. Descriptive statistics provided by Microsoft Excel in the form of charts was used to describe data. Pearson's correlation test was used to describe relationships amongst variables. RESULTS: The results revealed that 83.3% respondents indicated a shortage of staff to attend pregnant women. Fifty-six per cent of managers indicated that shortage of material resources contributed to substandard implementation of maternal guidelines. Supervision and monitoring of implementation of maternal guidelines was difficult as indicated by 53.3%, and 63.3% indicated lack of supervision. CONCLUSION: Limited support in terms of monitoring and supervision by managers was strongly indicated as having a negative effect on implementation of maternal guidelines. Capacity building was offered; however, shortage of resources led to poor implementation of maternal guidelines by midwives.

Can Women's Lives be saved from Hypertensive Disorders during Pregnancy? Experiences of South African Midwives.

A qualitative, descriptive phenomenological research design was conducted to explore and describe the experiences of midwives on the management of women diagnosed with hypertensive disorders during pregnancy in rural areas of Limpopo Province, South Africa. Non-probability sampling was used to select eighteen (18) midwives from primary health care facilities of Mopani and Vhembe districts in Limpopo Province. Data was collected through in-depth interview and analysed using eight steps of Tesch's open coding method. Ethical considerations were adhered to by ensuring confidentiality, anonymity, privacy and signing of informed consent by participants. Measures to ensure trustworthiness; credibility, transferability, dependability and lastly, confirmability were ensured. Findings of this study revealed three themes (with sub-themes) namely; management of pregnant women diagnosed with hypertensive disorders, support experienced when managing complications, challenges experienced by midwives when managing hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. In conclusion, poor support came up very strongly as a factor influencing good management of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. Recruitment of more midwives that will support each other during management of pregnant women with hypertensive disorders is recommended.

Managing hypertensive disorders during pregnancy in low resource settings.

Background: Maternal deaths caused by hypertensive disorders are preventable. The purpose was to assess midwives' perceived knowledge and skills on the implementation of maternal health guidelines when managing hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. Methods: Quantitative, cross-sectional method was used. Population comprised of 200 midwives. Data was collected through self-report questionnaires and analysed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences 24. Results: Midwives (63.5%) possessed knowledge and skills of implementing maternal guidelines. While 77.5% experienced shortage of human and material resources. Non-compliance to ambulance services led to delayed initiation of treatment. Recommendations: Continuous in-service training and education must be conducted. More resources to be provided to implement guidelines accurately.

Challenges faced by caregivers of children on antiretroviral therapy at Mutale Municipality selected healthcare facilities, Vhembe District, Limpopo Province.

BACKGROUND: Children depend solely on caregivers who can be either parents or guardians for drug administration to enhance adherence to antiretroviral treatment (ART), which might pose any number of challenges. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the challenges faced by caregivers of children on ART at Mutale Municipality, Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD: The research design was qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual in nature. The population consisted of 16 caregivers who were 18 years of age and above, and mentally capable, irrespective of educational qualifications, caring for children aged between 0 and 15 years who were on ART between April 2013 and October 2014. Non-probability, purposive sampling was used to select the 16 caregivers. Required permission, approval and ethical clearance were obtained from the University of Venda Higher Degree Committee, Limpopo Provincial Health Department and relevant institutions. An in-depth, individual, unstructured interview method was used to collect data. One central question was asked: 'What are the challenges you experience when caring for a child on antiretroviral treatment?' Subsequent questions were based on the participants' responses to the central question. Qualitative data were analysed by means of Tesch's open-coding method. RESULTS: The findings of this study revealed that participants, that is, caregivers of children on ART, experienced financial burdens because of transport costs needed to comply with follow-up dates and insufficient of money for food, clothing the child in need of care, pocket money for lunch boxes during school hours and time lost while waiting for consultations. Participants reported some level of stigmatisation against children on ART by family members, especially the husbands or in-laws of the secondary caregivers. Many primary and secondary caregivers seemed to have given up seeking support from government and community structures. CONCLUSION: The conclusions drawn from this research are that caregivers hardly receive any support from family members or the community. Fear of disclosing the HIV-positive status of children resulted in the delay of financial support from the government, thus leading to serious financial burden on the caregivers.

Needs assessment for adapting TB directly observed treatment intervention programme in Limpopo Province, South Africa: A community-based participatory research approach.

BACKGROUND: Limpopo Province is one of the hardest hit by tuberculosis and human immune virus infections in the country. The province has been implementing directly observed treatment strategy since 1996. However, the cure rate was 64% in 2015 and remains far from the set target by the World Health Organization of 85%. Poor health-care seeking and adherence behaviours were identified as major risk behaviours. AIM: To apply a community-based participatory research approach in identifying barriers and facilitators to health-care seeking and adherence to treatment, and to determine strategies and messages in order to inform the design of an adapted intervention programme. SETTING: This study was conducted in three districts in the Limpopo Province, Capricorn, Mopani and Sekhukhune districts. METHODS: Community participatory research approach was applied. Purposive sampling was used to sample participants. Focus group discussions were used to collect data. Participatory analysis was used comparing findings within and across all the participants. RESULTS: A total of 161 participated in the study. Participants included coordinators, professional nurses, supporters and patients. Major modifiable behavioural-related barriers were lack of knowledge about tuberculosis, misinformation and misperceptions cultural beliefs, stigma and refusal of treatment support. Environment-related barriers were attitudes of health workers, lack of support by family and community, lack of food and use of alcohol and drugs. Strategies and messages included persuasive and motivational messages to promote healthy behaviour. CONCLUSION: Joint programmatic collaboration between the community and academic researchers is really needed for interventions to address the needs of the community.

Factors affecting integration of midwifery nursing science theory with clinical practice in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province as perceived by professional midwives.

BACKGROUND: Professional midwives have an important role to play in midwifery training to produce a competent midwife. According to the social learning theory, professional midwives act as role models for students. When allocated for clinical learning experiences in the training hospitals, students will have the opportunity to observe the well-trained, skilled, and experienced professional midwives. The whole process will enable students to integrate theory with practice and they will become competent. AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the factors affecting integration of midwifery nursing science theory with clinical practice as perceived by midwives. SETTING: The study was conducted at the training hospitals in Vhembe district of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. These hospitals were: Donald Fraser, Siloam, and Tshidzini. METHODS: A qualitative explorative, descriptive and contextual design was used. A Nonprobability, convenient sampling method was used to select 11 midwives from the following hospitals: Donald Fraser, Siloam, and Tshidzini, in Vhembe district. In-depth individual interviews were conducted. Data were analysed through open coding method. RESULT: One theme and five sub-themes emerged from the analysed data, namely: shortage of midwives, attitudes towards student midwives, reluctance to perform teaching functions, language barriers, and declining midwifery practice standards. CONCLUSION: Shortage of midwives in the clinical areas led to fewer numbers of mentors whom the students could observe and imitate to acquire clinical skills. Some of the midwives were reluctant to teach students. Recommendations were made for both training institutions and hospitals to employ preceptors for students in the clinical practical.

Effects of increased nurses' workload on quality documentation of patient information at selected Primary Health Care facilities in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province.

BACKGROUND: Recording of information on multiple documents increases professional nurses' responsibilities and workload during working hours. There are multiple registers and books at Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities in which a patient's information is to be recorded for different services during a visit to a health professional. Antenatal patients coming for the first visit must be recorded in the following documents: tick register; Prevention of Mother-ToChild Transmission (PMTCT) register; consent form for HIV and AIDS testing; HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) register (if tested positive for HIV and AIDS then this must be recorded in the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) wellness register); ART file with an accompanying single file, completion of which is time-consuming; tuberculosis (TB) suspects register; blood specimen register; maternity case record book and Basic Antenatal Care (BANC) checklist. Nurses forget to record information in some documents which leads to the omission of important data. Omitting information might lead to mismanagement of patients. Some of the documents have incomplete and inaccurate information. As PHC facilities in Vhembe District render twenty four hour services through a call system, the same nurses are expected to resume duty at 07:00 the following morning. They are expected to work effectively and when tired a nurse may record illegible information which may cause problems when the document is retrieved by the next person for continuity of care. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate and describe the effects of increased nurses' workload on quality documentation of patient information at PHC facilities in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. METHODS: The study was conducted in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, where the effects of increased nurses' workload on quality documentation of information is currently experienced. The research design was explorative, descriptive and contextual in nature. The population consisted of all nurses who work at PHC facilities in Vhembe District. Purposive sampling was used to select nurses and three professional nurses were sampled from each PHC facility. An in-depth face-to-face interview was used to collect data using an interview guide. RESULTS: PHC facilities encountered several effects due to increased nurses' workload where incomplete patient information is documented. Unavailability of patient information was observed, whilst some documented information was found to be illegible, inaccurate and incomplete. CONCLUSION: Documentation of information at PHC facilities is an evidence of effective communication amongst professional nurses. There should always be active follow-up and mentoring of the nurses' documentation to ensure that information is accurately and fully documented in their respective facilities. Nurses find it difficult to cope with the increased workload associated with documenting patient information on the multiple records that are utilized at PHC facilities, leading to incomplete information. The number of nurses at facilities should be increased to reduce the increased workload.

The views of the elderly on the impact that HIV and AIDS has on their lives in the Thulamela Municipality, Vhembe District, Limpopo province.

BACKGROUND: HIV and AIDS have a devastating impact on the lives of elderly people, particularly so because they are often expected to take care of their terminally ill children and assume the responsibility of looking after children orphaned by AIDS - in most cases with very little resources. OBJECTIVES: The study sought to achieve to describe the views of elderly people regarding the impact of HIV and AIDS on their lives, to determine the challenges that elderly people living with HIV or AIDS (EPLWHA) face in their daily lives, and to gain a sense of the coping strategies they use to overcome the obstacles they face in relation to HIV and AIDS. Ethical issues, such as permission to conduct the study, informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity, withdrawal of participation and measure to ensure trustworthiness, were ensured. DESIGN: This was a qualitative, explorative, descriptive study. Participants were interviewed using an interview guide. Information provided by the participants was captured on a tape recorder and analysed using open coding, and thereafter collated into themes, categories and sub-themes. RESULTS: The study findings revealed that HIV and AIDS have serious negative impacts on the lives of elderly people, particularly those living in poverty. The following key areas in relation to EPLWHA were established: psychological or emotional health, as well as household and socio-economic burdens. Considering the role that elderly people play in the community in so far as HIV and AIDS are concerned, primary health promotion and social welfare programmes should be directed at educating all elderly people and their service providers on how to cope with the health and social problems related to HIV and AIDS.

Views of professional nurses regarding low tuberculosis cure rate in Greater Giyani Municipality, Limpopo Province.

BACKGROUND: Management of patients suffering from tuberculosis (TB) after discharge from hospital plays a critical role in the cure rate of TB. Despite interventions developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to improve the cure rate, TB remains a worldwide health problem. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the views of professional nurses regarding the low TB cure rate in primary healthcare facilities of Greater Giyani Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa, with the aim of determining strategies that can be used to improve this low rate. METHOD: This study was qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual in nature. The population consisted of professional nurses working in primary healthcare facilities within Greater Giyani Municipality, which has a TB cure rate below the national target of 85%. Data gathering was through individual face-to-face interviews using an interview guide. Open-coding was used to analyse the data in this study. RESULTS: The theme that emerged from data was 'factors contributing to low TB cure rate'. This theme was supported by the following sub-themes: poor referral system, lack of knowledge about TB and its treatment, stigma attached to TB, and cultural and religious beliefs. The professional nurses suggested counselling of TB patients upon diagnosis, advice about patients' responsibilities and the involvement of family members. CONCLUSION: The involvement of community stakeholders in TB prevention, health promotion and education activities devoted to disease spread and cure is vital so that the stigma attached to TB can be eliminated. TB education and awareness programmes should be included in the curriculum of primary schools.

Professional nurses' views regarding stigma and discrimination in the care of HIV and AIDS patients in rural hospitals of the Limpopo province, South Africa.

The aim of the study was to determine the views of professional nurses on the manifestations of HIV and AIDS stigma and discrimination and their influence on the quality of care rendered to people living with HIV and AIDS in three rural hospitals of Limpopo province, South Africa. The study was qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual in nature. The population included all professional nurses registered with the South African Nursing Council who were working with confirmed HIV-positive patients in the three hospitals and had received specialised training in voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), antiretrovirals (ARV), prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and couple counselling. A purposive sampling method was used to select both the wards and participants, based on set criteria. A total of 9 wards (6 adult medical and 3 maternity) and 37 participants were selected. Focus group discussions and semi-structured and key informant interviews were conducted. Data were analysed using a combination of data analysis guidelines from different sources. Results revealed that professional nurses were aware of the existence of HIV and AIDS stigma and discrimination in their wards and regarded these as bad and improper care of HIV-positive patients. Behaviour included leaving care of HIV patients to junior members of staff with limited skills and knowledge of HIV and AIDS; showing HIV-positive patients that their disease was dangerous and contagious; judgmental behaviour towards and stereotyping of HIV-positive patients; and regarding patients with HIV and AIDS as uncooperative and problematic in the wards.

Experiences of family members caring for tuberculosis patients at home at Vhembe district of the Limpopo Province.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a potentially serious infectious disease which enters the body by inhalation and usually affects the lungs. TB is ranked amongst the leading infectious diseases worldwide, and in South Africa (SA) it has become an epidemic, because of its high prevalence. There are multiple factors that were found to attribute to the existence and spread of this disease. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe experiences of family members caring for TB patients at home, in the Vhembe District of the Limpopo Province. The study was qualitative, explorative, descriptive, phenomenological and contextual in nature. The population group selected for the study all comprised of family members caring for tuberculosis patients at home in Tshifulanani village. A purposive sampling method was applied in the study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews guided by three questions. Tech's eight steps of data analysis were followed. Measures to ensure trustworthiness and ethical issues were observed. The results of the study revealed that family members experienced difficulties when they care for TB patients at home. These difficulties included providing food, attending to hygiene needs, the lack of equipment, financial constraints as well as physical and psychological exhaustion. Recommendations were made concerning the provision food, attending to hygiene needs, assisting in the administration of medication, nursing practice and policy making.