‘We Have Taken Care of our Children according to an African-Swedish Method’: HIV-Infected Ugandan Parents in Sweden

Abstract

Most HIV-infected parents in Western Europe are of African origin. They face a range of problems while adapting to a new culture and previous research has highlighted the lack of studies on how to support them. In order to deepen our understanding of how they experience their parenthood, we conducted qualitative interviews with 12 HIV-infected Ugandan parents. All participants had access to anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment and, as they continued to feel healthy, they tended to be less worried about leaving their children as orphans. We found that the parenting roles of these people undergo radical transformations, where fathers are expected to perform traditionally female tasks, and mothers are expected to take part in important family decisions with their husbands. An ‘African-Swedish method’ was described where parents had integrated a Swedish way of talking and being close to their children while retaining what they described as the Ugandan style of not informing their children about HIV. Healthcare personnel need to appreciate these HIV-infected African parents' cultural dilemmas and adapt medical information accordingly. We discuss our results from three dimensions of cultural variability: femininity–masculinity, power distance and individualism–collectivism.