Experiences of serodiscordant couples towards sexual relationship at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital.

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Date
2011-07-14
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Kamuzu University of Health Sciences
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INTRODUCTION HIV and AIDS is one of the greatest public health as well as social problems threatening the human race. Since the beginning of the epidemic, nearly 30 million people have died from AIDS-related causes. Malawi is among the list which has one of the highest national prevalence rates in the world. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to explore experiences of serodiscordant couples towards sexual relationships. The study objectives were to describe feelings of serodiscondant couples towards sexual relationships, examine attitudes of the serodiscordant couples towards serodiscordant status and explore sexual practices of serodiscordant couples. METHODOLOGY In this study, the population of interest was serodiscordant couples who attend clinics to Johns Hopkins at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. The study was a qualitative design, data was collected through face to face interview using an interview guide. A sample of five couples to make 10 participants was interviewed in order to obtain data. Data collected was analysed using content analysis. Convenient method of sampling was used in this study. This study was conducted at Johns Hopkins Clinic within Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre. The result of the study showed that serodiscordant couples felt that frequent sex will facilitate HIV transmission and condom use reduces sexual arousal. Further analysis showed that condom was considered the most appropriate method which improves their sexual relationship. On the other hand the study noted that serodiscordant couples meet challenges like fear of HIV transmission, the need for child bearing and anxiety. This implies that there is need to intensify couple counseling which will solve psychological problems of serodiscordant couples.
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