1. THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN HIV/ AIDS
HOME BASED CARE VOLUNTEERS IN RURAL
KWA-ZULU NATAL
Naidu, T & Sliep, Y

2. Outline
• Literature
• Project outline and situation
• Rationale for the study
• Research methods
• Results
• Discussion

3. Literature
• Culture and volunteerism
• Identity and volunteerism in HIV care
and support
• Volunteerism Social Capital and Power

4. Project Outline and Situation
1. Part of a large project on social capital
care and support
2. Subsection of a study HBCV identity
3. KwaNgcolosi, High HIV infection +
AIDS
4. Poverty and unemployment are
extremely high in the community
5. Resource strained

5. Rationale for the Study
1. No detailed studies on volunteer identity
motivation participation in SA
2. Most research on caregivers focuses on
burdensome, disempowering nature of the
work
3. Offers an in-depth perspective on identity of
women volunteers who provide care and
support.
4. Data could be useful in recruitment retention
and replicating HBCV programmes and
activities

6. METHODOLOGY: Sample
1. 15 Home based care volunteers
2. Group called Uthandolomama
3. Aged between 25 and 60
4. Grade 5 to grade 12 level of education.
5. No formal training in nursing or care work
6. Nine of the women were married
7. All had one or more children.
8. isiZulu - first language

7. METHODOLOGY : Data Collection
1. Qualitative Narrative Interviews
2. Translated from isiZulu to English
3. Three Stage Process
1.Constructivist Interview
2.Life Story Interview
3.Reflective Interview
4. Participatory Action Approach
1.Appreciative Inquiry

8. Home Based Care Volunteers
Reflective Interview
What did you tell your family about the interviews OR what will
you tell them?
From you life story and your work story I have heard that you
are a hard working, committed, concerned about your future
and that of your family, good at making quick decisions
entrepreneurial, innovative ambitious? Would you say that
this is true of you?
What would your family the person closest to you or good friend
say about you as a person – the kind of person you are?
Would they and your friends agree with this idea of the kind of
person you are?
What kind of qualities do you need to have to be a HBCV
Can anyone be a home based care volunteer?
Someone said you need the mind of a mother to be a HBCV –
What are your ideas on what this means?
Do you agree?
What are you ideas on why the group is called
“Uthando lomama”

9. METHODOLOGY : Narrative Analysis
1. Phase 1: Assimilating to the data and
generating baseline themes
2. Phase 2: Reading for and elucidating
the context

10. METHODOLOGY : Narrative Analysis
1. Phase 3: Reading for and identifying
themes of HBCV personal identity
2. Phase 4: Reflexively connecting
personal, role and collective identity

11. RESULTS & DISCUSSION

12. CONTEXT
Social Field Meta-Narratives
•Poverty •Absent men
•Political unrest •Aspiring to service oriented
•Lost educational work
opportunities •Motherhood
•Religious commitment or
•Absent men belief
•Shifting between two •Traditional aspects of life
worlds (Collectivist culture,
•Traditional aspects of life Polygamy, Hlonipha)
(Collectivist culture, •Marriage
Polygamy, Hlonipha) •Culture Care
ROLE & COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
“Umqondo kaMama”
The mind of a mother

13. ROLE & COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
“Umqondo kaMama”
The mind of a mother
PERSONAL /INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY
Personal Narratives
Compassionate doer
Natural helper, Industrious
Hopeful helper
Personal Agency (empowerment through contact with outsiders and training)
Continued personal growth/self improvement
Emotional/constitutional Resilience
Resolved past loss or experience of caring for family member
Strong emotional tolerance
Socialiser
Sense of community
With other carers and community in general
Recognition/Status
Broadening of perspective
Deep connections and personal boundaries – patients, families, other HBCVs)
Acknowledgment of death and preciousness of life??

14. DISCUSSION
Context = foundation for understanding the connection
between the role and collective identity of the HBCVs
and their personal identity.
Preliminary work by other researchers

15. Home Based Care Volunteers
Reflective Interview
What did you tell your family about the interviews OR what will
you tell them?
From you life story and your work story I have heard that you
are a hard working, committed, concerned about your future
and that of your family, good at making quick decisions
entrepreneurial, innovative ambitious? Would you say that
this is true of you?
What would your family the person closest to you or good friend
say about you as a person – the kind of person you are?
Would they and your friends agree with this idea of the kind of
person you are?
What kind of qualities do you need to have to be a HBCV
Can anyone be a home based care volunteer?
Someone said you need the mind of a mother to be a HBCV –
What are your ideas on what this means?
Do you agree?
What are you ideas on why the group is called “Uthando
lomama”

16. DISCUSSION
• Reflective questioning – linking collective and
personal identity
• Witnessing in the process
• Opportunity for transformative in research
questioning that encourages movement from
endogenous to referent reflexivity
• Through the use of a generative metaphor
• Uthandolomama Umqondo kamama