PHYSICAL EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN LIVING WITH HIV AND AIDS

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 introduced the problem under study and the motivation of the study. This chapter reviews literature related to this study. Booth, Papaioannov and Sutton (2012:2), define literature review as a systematic, explicit and reproducible method of identifying, evaluating and synthesizing the existing body of completed and recorded work by researchers, scholars and practitioners. Literature review aims at giving background of current knowledge on a topic and highlights the necessity for new studies. It provides essential background knowledge about similarities and differences between the present study and prior research studies done which are relevant to a particular topic (Burns and Groove 2007: 137).
Booth et al (2012:3) are of the idea that one of the aims of literature review is to learn whether findings are consistent across multiple studies, since disagreements among findings are valuable whilst conflicts, on the other hand, provide more knowledge. The authors further explain that this helps in identifying settings in which a particular social policy might succeed, under what circumstances an educational program might work best or what dose of drug is most effective. In addition, literature review aims to highlight weaknesses in evidence to argue for further research and to offer a valuable aid to decision making.
In summary, the purposes of literature review are highlighted in the following table:
Table 2.1: Purposes of Literature Review
Purposes of literature review according to Booth et al (2012:4)
 To place each work in the context of how it contributes to an understanding of the subject under review.
 To describe how each work relates to others under consideration.
 To identify new ways to interpret and shed light on gaps in previous research.
 To identify and resolve conflicts across seemingly contradictory previous studies.
 To identify what has been covered by previous scholars to prevent needlessly duplicating their efforts.
 To signpost the way forward for further research.
 To locate the authors original work within existing literature.
Literature review in this study aims to produce extensive reference to research related to the experiences of women living with HIV and Aids in order to set the research in context, to explain some of the key work conducted previously and to show how the current research topic builds up on that (Oliver 2012:131). In order to meet the aims of this literature review, the researcher sought answers to the following questions:
1. What are the experiences of women living with HIV and Aids?
2. What kind of treatment do HIV positive women face from their health providers in health care settings?
3. Which recommendations can improve policy making with regards to women living with HIV and Aids?

PRE-REVIEW CONSIDERATIONS

The researcher felt that, the research topic, ‘Experiences of women living with HIV and AIDS’ was unique in its own way. Factors surrounding HIV and Aids are very complex since the epidemic is spreading throughout the world. Disclosure of HIV status has rendered women especially vulnerable to rejection by partners and family and even subjects them to violence (Cloete, Strebel, Simbayi, van Wyk, Henda and Nqeketo 2010: 1). Literature review on this topic assisted in the exploration on experiences of women living with HIV and Aids, enabling the researcher to appropriately position the research amongst the sources consulted and to set the research context. Furthermore, literature review on this topic provided a framework in evaluating policy recommendations about the kind of support given to women living with HIV and Aids.

 DATA SEARCH STRATEGY

The researcher consulted with the research librarian at UNISA to help search for studies that met the eligibility criteria. The search included browsing through several electronic data bases including Pub med, med forum, med Line, EBSCO, CINAHL and Pro Quest. In addition, websites such as Google and Google Scholar were also used.
The researcher consulted both national and international literature related to the experiences of women living with HIV and Aids. When conducting the searches each phrase was used independently or sometimes combined with other key terms using the Boolean operator. The words “AND” and “OR” were placed between two or more search terms. The key phrases that were used to search from the above databases were:
 Experiences of HIV positive women
 Women AND HIV and Aids
 HIV and Aids AND experiences
 Social experiences AND HIV, OR women
 HIV/AIDS affecting women
 Women and HIV in South Africa
 HIV/AIDS in Gauteng Province
 Religion AND HIV positive women
 HIV positive AND culture
The initial search from the search term “experiences of HIV positive women” yielded 2 293 articles. The table 2.2 below gives an outline of how the researcher went through the process of refining the literature search conducted:

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR INCLUSION OF STUDIES WITHIN THE REVIEW

 Types of participants – Only those studies that used women who are HIV positive as study participants were considered. Most importantly, studies that looked into experiences of HIV positive women and the treatment they received from their health care providers were also considered for inclusion within the review.
 Only studies which were published in English were included in the review.
 Studies that specifically focused on HIV positive women and evaluation of the treatment they received were included in the literature review.
 Only studies that were conducted from 2006 to present were selected for literature review.

 REVIEW REMIT

The preliminary literature search yielded a great number of studies and most of them were not adequately relevant to the research topic. Some were older than seven years and others did not discuss ‘HIV positive women’ but rather included studies on men who have sex with other men. Most studies did not meet the inclusion criteria and were excluded due to some of the following reasons:
 Studies which made use of quantitative methods of data collection.
 Studies not focusing on women in particular regarding their experiences of living with HIV and Aids.
 Studies which were vague in terms of methodology utilized by the researchers.
 Internet articles such as newspaper articles and reports which were not research articles.
Themes that emerged during the literature search were outlined as follows: physical experiences of women living with HIV and Aids, social, emotional, spiritual and cultural experiences for HIV positive women. These themes are discussed in detail below.

CHAPTER 1: ORIENTATION TO THE STUDY
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH STUDY
1.3 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
1.4 AIM OF THE STUDY
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS
1.7 FOUNDATIONS OF THE STUDY
1.8 RESEARCH DESIGN
1.9 RESEARCH METHODS
1.10 DATA COLLECTION
1.11 DATA ANALYSIS
1.12 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1.13 STRUCTURE OF DISSERTATION
1.14 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.2 PRE-REVIEW CONSIDERATIONS
2.3 DATA SEARCH STRATEGY
2.4 ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR INCLUSION OF STUDIES WITHIN THE REVIEW
2.6 PHYSICAL EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN LIVING WITH HIV AND AIDS
2.7 SOCIAL EXPERIENCES
2.11 OTHER EXPERIENCES
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN
3.3 RESEARCH METHOD
3.4 MEASURES TO ENSURE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE STUDY
3.5 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS 50
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 FIELDWORK EXPERIENCE
4.3 DATA MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS
4.4 SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS
4.5 RESEARCH FINDINGS
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD
5.3 SUMMARY AND INTERPRETATION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS
5.4 CONCLUSIONS
5.5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE
5.6 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
5.7 CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STUDY
5.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
5.9 CONCLUDING REMARKS
6. LIST OF REFERENCES
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