Perceptions of alcohol use in the context of HIV treatment: a qualitative study

Figures & data

Table 1 Description of FGDs

	FGD1	FGD2	FGD3	FGD4
Venue	Central hospital	City clinic	Church-linked hospital	Church-linked hospital
Participants
N	13	13	7	6
Gender	Mixed	Mixed	Male	Female
Facilitators
n	3	3	2	2
Gender	(2 females, 1 male)	(2 females, 1 male)	(1 male, 1 female)	Female

Abbreviation: FGD, focus group discussion.

Table 2 Participants’ sociodemographic data

Sociodemographic data	N (%)
Gender
Male	23 (59)
Female	16 (41)
Marital status
Married	27 (69)
Widowed	9 (23)
Single	2 (5)
Alcohol use disorder	13 (30)
	Mean (SD)
Age (years)	40 (16.0)
Education (years in school)	10.65 (3.68)

Table 3 Major themes and thematic areas

Major themes	Thematic area	Quote
Perceptions of alcohol use in terms of HIV treatment	Alcohol use has a direct influence	“Drinking beer is not good because alcohol and medication are not compatible”
		“Drinking alcohol weakens the body, there will be competition between alcohol and medication”
	Alcohol has an indirect influence	“You can forget to take your medication” “[…] drink alcohol you end up forgetting to eat your sadza [corn meal] or eating food and you end up going to the beer hall”
Participant perceptions of HIV infected patients who drink alcohol	Some patients understood the difficulty	“[…] you feel sorry for them, so I feel this program should be done […] so that people can stop taking alcohol” “HIV infected patients who drink alcohol must be: “[…] asked why they continue to drink […] [it] may be stress about the home and families […] If they require any help this can be forthcoming in order to relieve stress and stop falling in the trap of drinking alcohol”
	They cannot be helped	“You [person drinking alcohol] are a difficult person who cannot be helped” “[…] you don’t listen and you are stubborn” “[…] nurses should strongly threaten them [people drinking alcohol] with death”
	Other participants acknowledged taking responsibility	“[…] to make a choice to either continue drinking beer or smoking and risk ending your life […] it is all up to the patient” “[…] you are told what is required and what is not required it’s you[r] chance to choose what you want, alcohol or tablets”
Fear and stigma		“If the [health] workers are not free or approachable this creates barriers. If they are free and friendly people can be helped. If they are not, people can be afraid to look for help” “You can hide the tablets from your friends thinking that they will laugh at you when in actual fact taking tablets is important and you should tell your friends so that they can remind you to take your tablets”
Help and support is there	Participants saw something good in the AUD intervention	“[…] it is appropriate for people to be asked about the quantity of alcohol they drink”
	Pills to stop drinking	“There are pills to aid one in stopping drinking beer, let them be approved […] some people are no longer able on their own to stop drinking” “As government institutions are generally lacking in terms of facilities, for example I heard that at [hospital] there is a doctor who has a drug to completely stop someone from drinking alcohol. So, sometimes such facilities are not yet there at government hospitals”
	Counselors are trusted	“[…] but before that I should make use of the counselor information before I overload the doctor with unnecessary work” “[…] this is the work of counselors. Looking for help allover the place will cause risks of misinformation and this is dangerous. It is important just to go to those who are skilled to do the job”
	Provide health education	“[…] continuous health education from counselors […] Health education should be an on-going process so that everyone [is] equipped with knowledge” “I think counselors are more appropriate because they were skilled in approaching and educating patients”

Abbreviation: AUD, alcohol use disorder.