A study of self concept of children living with hiv and receiving antiretroviral therapy

Abstract

India has an estimated 202,000 children who have tested positive for HIV as per newlineUNAIDS (2008) with over 10,000 children receiving Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). newlineThese children are less likely to suffer from morbidity, opportunistic infections with a newlinedecrease in premature mortality, have an opportunity to receive more effective drugs newlinecurrently under research and could live a normal life span. With the increase in access newlineto free ART in India, there is a concern for the well-being of children living with HIV newlineand who are on ART. This has mostly centred on strategies for increasing adherence newlineto ART which is also essential but other important issues like economic support and newlinethe need for counselling children on ART are not a part of the official policies and newlineplans for children. newlineThis study presents the findings from a qualitative research study that was done, using newlinethe Grounded Theory approach and conducted in three districts of Maharashtra newlinenamely Raighad, Thane and Pune. Children who are on ART, their parent/s, relatives, newlinehealth care delivery professionals like the staff of the local PLHIV Network, and ART newlineCenters were included in the study. Focused group interviews, observations, in-depth newlineinterviews and participatory research techniques were specifically used with the newlinechildren. The children who participated in the study were in the age group 8-12 years. newlineMultiple interviews were conducted along with observation with 14 children. newlineFour broad themes have been outlined in the Analysis section: 1) Analytical focus on newlinethe content of the Self Concept of the children on ART 2) Analytical focus on newlineprocesses leading to the formation of these contents of the Self concept in children 3) newlineAnalytical focus on the support systems and 4) Analytical focus on the consequences newlineof Self Concept for Children.