The experiences of students living with or affected by HIV/AIDS in Trinidad and Tobago

• Main Author: Ogilvie-Frederick, Patricia
• Published: University of Sheffield 2012
• Subjects: 362.1969792
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.566699

The research which this thesis reports and represents sought to explore, 'The experiences of students Living With or Affected by HIV/AIDS in Trinidad and Tobago". The focus is on the perceptions and experiences of thirteen primary and secondary school students. some of whom were in residential care whilst the others lived with relatives. These perceptions and experiences are also considered in the context of the views of care givers and key informants involved in HIVi AIDS education in Trinidad and Tobago. The primary questions the research addressed were: What had happened to the young people up to the time of the research'? What were their stories with relation to the ways in which HIV/AIDS had impacted their lives? How had they experienced schools and schooling as HIV/AIDS affected students? What were their experiences with regard to the health sector? and, What were their hopes and dreams for the future? The research took a qualitative. auto/biographical approach using interviews and participant observation as the key methods of data collection and narrative/storying and grounded theory as the form of representation and analysis. My own voice both as researcher and as an education professional concerned with young people is acknowledged throughout. My aim has been to present lived experiences - to give voice - and to explore how HIV/AIDS impacted on different aspects of the students' lives, on their health, education. human rights, personal social development, family dynamics and support systems. XI This thesis is an attempt to counter the silence which surrounds students living with or affected by HIV:AIDS as it explores what can be learnt from the perspectives of those students and their care-givers about the cultural significance of the disease, its capacity to alter how we know ourselves and what we can do in the midst of epidemic. Topics addressed within the thesis include: HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean generally and in Trinidad and Tobago specifically; the Medical Disease - transmission. treatment, responses, advocacy; Human Rights: the Social Disease; Local responses of Ministries of Education and Health, The Churches and The NACC; Regional responses - C ARICOM, CAREC, PANCAP; and global response through UNESCO's Commonwealth Chair.