Young People Living with HIV in Zimbabwe Use the Conventional, Religious, and Traditional Health Systems in Parallel

Findings from a Mixed Methods Study

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4314519
AutoresUrsula Wüthrich-Grossenbacher (0000-0003-4429-0663, University of Basel, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume15
Fascículo2
Páginas239
Data de publicação2024-02-17
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoReligions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
EditoraMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel15020239
OpenAlexW4391946530
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas22

Epidemiologists and other health practitioners increasingly recognize religion as a social determinant of health. This paper is part of a bigger study that examines how religion and tradition influence the health of young people living with HIV in a highly religious society like Zimbabwe. An analysis of 67 interviews and 10 focus group discussions with a phenomenological approach revealed that religious and traditional beliefs influenced the meaning and perception of HIV and the choice of treatment. Study participants consulted religious, traditional, and conventional health practitioners in parallel. Together the three health systems potentially provide a holistic approach that responds to the social, spiritual, psychological, and physical needs of people living with HIV. However, the findings point to a lack of cooperation between stakeholders of the three health systems that led to conflicting approaches that compromised the physical and mental health of study participants. Thus, the findings endorse the importance of strengthening the efforts of everyone involved in HIV care to reach out to other stakeholders and to negotiate a way of collaboration that mitigates negative consequences of disparities and seeks to endorse what is life affirming and leads towards the end of the AIDS pandemic by 2030

Disease · Family medicine · Focus group · Health care · Mental health · Negotiation · Pandemic · Perception · Political science · Psychotherapist · Social science · Sociology · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Medicine · Psychology · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Social Psychology · Gerontology