The experience of performing caesarean sections on patients with HIV : a phenomenological explication

• Main Author: Kennedy, Corne
• Other Authors: Ngcobo, H.S.B.
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Cesarean section.; Medical personnel and patient.; Medical personnel > Job stress.; AIDS (Disease)
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10530/208

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Arts in Clinical Psychology, 2006. === The purpose of this research was to describe the experience of working with patients with HIV/AIDS, in particular performing caesarean sections, from a medical practitioner's perspective. A phenomenological study method was employed in which each participant used in the research was interviewed in a single session. The original sample consisted of 9 participants. They were selected by means of criterion sampling from the gynaecology and obstetrics department of different public hospitals in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. Six protocols were selected for phenomenological explication based on the interviews with the 9 original participants. The sample consisted of 3 females and 3 males, from different cultural backgrounds, who regularly perform surgical gynaecological procedures on patients with HIV/AIDS. The results were presented in the form of an integrative text, which accounted for all of the individual variations of the experience of working with patients with HIV/AIDS. Out of this text the researcher explicated natural meaning units, specific to each participant, which were used in formulating a specific description of experiencing the performance of a caesarean section on a patient with HIV/AIDS. This study concluded with a discussion of the results, as well as a formulation of a general description of experiencing the performance of caesarean sections on patients with HIV/AIDS for all 6 participants. Overall, this research explicated unique descriptions of individual experiences, and contributes to a general understanding of the experience of performing a caesarean section on a patient with HIV/AIDS. Operational definitions • Phenomenology - A department of the inductive sciences concerned with the facts that form the basis of its system. • Caesarean section - A mode of childbirth in which a surgical incision is made through a pregnant woman's abdomen and uterus to deliver a baby. • Human Immunodeficiency Vinis- A retrovirus that attacks and severely damages the body's immune system and for which there is presently no cure. • Life-wortd- The space occupied by any one person in the external, physical world, as well as the internal lived-in world, consisting of emotions and cognitions.