LIFE HISTORY INTERVIEWS (LHIs) – 2013, 2018:
2013: We conducted qualitative life history interviews of a random sample of 60 respondents drawn from the HIV/NCD Survey, stratified by gender (male/female), HIV sero-status (positive/negative), and age cohort (40s, 50s, 60+ –). Each interview lasted between 1-2 hours and was audio-recorded, translated and transcribed from Shangaan (local language) to English by the local research team.
The life history interview data, includes responses to questions about respondents’ sexual, romantic and marital histories leading up to their current/last relationship, as well as their family lives growing up, their livelihood strategies (employment/ occupational histories, financial status, government grant provision, and family/friend financial support), and educational and residential histories (in and out migration from the Agincourt site). We also asked about how they and their partner(s) managed exposure to HIV risk (including condom use and abstinence); their general health, including other illnesses and use of Western or alternative treatments; and their HIV testing experiences as well as ART use for those who were HIV positive. We asked about challenges faced by adults their age in their community, as well as those they thought were unique to same age peers living with HIV. For those who disclosed their HIV status (of which a majority did), we asked how they think they acquired HIV, the experience of disclosure to others, and the perceived benefits and disadvantages of ART initiation anda dherence in the context of their individual health trajectories and other livelihood decisions.
2018: We followed up with half our sample in 2018, and were able to conduct 25 interviews. We asked how their family lives, livelihoods and general health status had changed since our last interview. For those who disclosed that they were living with HIV, we asked how their experiences living with HIV and co-morbidities had changed since our last interview.
For more information, see:
Mojola, Sanyu A., Jill Williams, Nicole Angotti and F. Xavier Gómez-Olivé. 2015. HIV after 40 in Rural South Africa: A Life Course Approach to HIV Vulnerability among Middle Aged and Older Adults. Social Science and Medicine 143: 204–212
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.08.023
Mojola, Sanyu A, Nicole Angotti, Danielle Denardo, Enid Schatz and F. Xavier Gómez-Olivé. 2020. The End of AIDS? HIV and the New Landscape of Illness in Rural South Africa. Global Public Health https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2020.1851743