The experiences of transport sector employees after their disclosure of living with HIV in the workplace

Abstract

Despite the global and local response to the HIV epidemic, the disclosure of HIV status in the workplace is still a problem globally and in South Africa, due to the stigma attached to the disease. However, often, by “going public” about their HIV status, HIV infected people give a face to the disease. This however has not been the case in the workplace due to fear of discrimination and stigma (Lutaaya, 1999; Van der Borght, van ,Janseens, der Loeff, Kajemba, Rijckborst, Lange&de Wet, 2009:676). It has been discovered that HIV and AIDS are not only medical problems but a psycho-social issue as well. Adding to the problem of HIV status disclosure in South Africa prior to 2010, HIV and AIDS were met with denial and a lack of political will to take action and thus adding to the reluctance in HIV status disclosure. The goal of the study was to explore the experiences of HIV positive employees in the transport sector after they have disclosed their HIV status in the workplace. A qualitative phenomenological approach was appropriate for this study using in-depth interviews. And as such one question that was put forward to all participants was: How would you describe your daily living with HIV after you have disclosed your HIV status in the workplace? Fifteen participants from Organisation Alpha formed a sample for this study. Some conclusions based on the findings were that: Participants’ experiences varied from one participant to the other. There were participants who experienced support in the workplace while others experienced isolation and rejection. One issue that stood out was the experience of stigma in the workplace. The experiences felt by the participants were mostly attributed to lack of HIV knowledge in the workplace which needs to be addressed by the application of various strategies and action programmes. The study was concluded with relevant recommendations to the transport sector. Copyright