Barcelona 2013
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| Abstract #368 - Mental Health | ||||
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Session: 39.7: Mental Health (Parallel) on Tuesday @ 16.30-18.30 in Teatre Chaired by Sue Gibbons, Jordi Blanch Authors: Presenting Author: Prof. Ilse Elisabeth Plattner - University of Botswana, South Africa |
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| Additional Authors: Lic Juan Sotelo, Lic Daniel Palacio, Lic Fernando D`Elio, Lic Luciana Betti, Dr Silvana Weller, Lic Julia Recchi, Dr Carlos Falistocco, | ||||
| Aim: In Botswana, a country with rigorous and pro-active HIV education programmes, children of any age are likely to hear people talking about HIV and AIDS at home, on radio, television or at HIV and AIDS awareness rallies. The question arises as to how young children, who owing to their level of cognitive development would not yet fully comprehend the information about HIV and AIDS, make meaning of HIV and AIDS. Therefore, the study aimed to explore young children?s meaning making in the context of HIV and AIDS. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Data were utilised from a study with seventy-five children aged four to seven years from rural and urban areas in Botswana. As part of an age-adequate interview, participants were asked to draw a picture about AIDS and to tell a story about the drawing. The narratives were analysed qualitatively. | ||||
| Results / Comments: The results illustrate how young children utilise their personal life experiences to construct their own individual and unique meaning about HIV and AIDS. The results also show how children?s reasoning may carry potentially stressful explanations characterised by fear and a feeling of lack of control and helplessness. | ||||
| Discussion: Adults may laugh at children?s explanations about HIV and AIDS or belittle their meaning making, and in doing so, disregard the emotional distress that information about HIV and AIDS can cause for children. The results have implications for parents, teachers involved in HIV and AIDS education, and health care professionals such as nurses and doctors providing antiretroviral treatment to young children. | ||||
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