Abstract
Purpose This paper examines the older persons' knowledge of HIV and AIDS and explores the effect of delayed disclosure of HIV status and lack of resources during care. Methods The study site was health facilities in Thembisile Hani subdistrict, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Older persons aged 60 years and above were selected using purposive sampling for in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results Providing physical care to sick adults is labour intensive for the already weak older persons. They undertake the caring role within constraints arising from lack of resource such as gloves, diapers, and soap with which to perform the caring role. Taking care of the sick needed resources for specialized care and money for transport to the health facilities. This put a strain on the finances and rendered the older persons food insecure. Furthermore, disclosure of HIV status was delayed, and some older persons cared for the sick adult children without knowing that they were HIV-infected and had AIDS-related illnesses. The nondisclosure of their HIV status by the sick prevented them from taking precautionary measures to prevent the risk of infection during the provision of care. This was heightened by the limited knowledge of HIV/AIDS of the older persons. Conclusion Older persons undertake the caring role with diligence under trying conditions due to lack of resources and the nondisclosure of HIV status of the adult children they take care of. Healthcare workers should educate older persons to take preventive precautionary measures when caring for family members even when there is no suspicion of HIV infection. In addition, access to the incapacity grants provided for individuals sick with AIDS-related illnesses could relieve the older persons from financial constraints.
Highlights
South Africa has a greater proportion of older persons than any other sub-Saharan country [1]
Most of the households with an HIV/AIDS person have elderly people who eventually take up the role of caring for the sick adult child. erefore, older persons have been in the forefront in the care of sick people since the advent of the HIV and AIDS epidemic [7,8,9]
As much as the older persons undertake the caring role with diligence, it is never without challenges, some of which arise from their lack of resources with which to undertake the caring role. e older persons and their households were food insecure because taking care of the sick needed money for transport to the health facilities which put a strain on their finances
Summary
South Africa has a greater proportion of older persons than any other sub-Saharan country [1]. In most households where older persons have experienced the death of an adult child through AIDS-related illnesses, the deceased adult children were breadwinners. Such deaths change the family structures, which are without the economically viable middle generation [3,4,5,6]. Erefore, older persons have been in the forefront in the care of sick people since the advent of the HIV and AIDS epidemic [7,8,9] Most of such households are female-headed; the majority of the women become caregivers who undertake the task [1, 2, 5, 10,11,12]
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