Assessing the feasibility of a life history calendar to measure HIV risk and health in older South Africans

Life history calendars capture patterns of behavior over time, uncovering transitions and trajectories. Despite the growing numbers of older persons living with HIV in southern Africa, little is known about how HIV testing and risk unfold in this population. Operationalizing a life course approach w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2020-01, Vol.15 (1), p.e0226024-e0226024
Main Authors: Schatz, Enid, Knight, Lucia, Belli, Robert F, Mojola, Sanyu A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Bias
Biology and Life Sciences
Calendars
Feasibility Studies
Female
Health
Health risks
HIV
HIV Infections - epidemiology
HIV Infections - psychology
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Life history
Male
Medical diagnosis
Medical tests
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mental Recall
Middle age
Older people
People and Places
Polls & surveys
Public health
Recall
Research Design
Researchers
Risk Factors
Risk perception
Risk taking
Sexism
Sexual behavior
Sexual Behavior - psychology
Sexual Behavior - statistics & numerical data
Sexually transmitted diseases
Social Sciences
South Africa - epidemiology
STD
Womens health
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Life history calendars capture patterns of behavior over time, uncovering transitions and trajectories. Despite the growing numbers of older persons living with HIV in southern Africa, little is known about how HIV testing and risk unfold in this population. Operationalizing a life course approach with the use of an innovative Testing and Risk History Calendar [TRHC], we collected pilot data on older South Africans' risk and HIV testing. We found older persons were able to provide (1) reference points to facilitate recall over a 10-year period, (2) specifics about HIV tests during that decade, and (3) details that contextualize the testing data, such as living arrangements, relationships, and health status. Interviewer debriefing sessions after each interview captured information on context and links across domains. On a larger scale, the TRHC has potential to reveal pathways between sexual behavior, HIV testing and risk perception, and health at older ages.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0226024