Free State HIV/AIDS Household Impact Study 2001-2004 - South Africa

Abstract
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The impact of HIV/AIDS on households in the Free State was assessed by means of a cohort study of households affected by the disease. The survey was conducted in two local communities in the Free State province, one urban (Welkom) and one rural (Qwaqwa), in which the HIV/AIDS epidemic is particularly rife. A survey on the quality of life and household economics was conducted, using the household questionnaire.

Geographic coverage
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Due to the sampling design and small sample size, the findings from this household impact study cannot be generalised to households across South Africa, but pertain largely to the experience of poor, African households that utilise public health care services.

Analysis unit
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Households

Kind of data
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Longitudinal Survey [ls]

Sampling procedure
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The household impact of HIV/AIDS was assessed by means of a cohort study of households affected by the disease. The survey was conducted in two local communities in the Free State province, one urban (Welkom) and one rural (Qwaqwa), in which the HIV/AIDS epidemic is particularly rife. Welkom and Qwaqwa are situated in the Lejweleputswa and Thabo Mofutsanyane districts of the Free
State province.

Mode of data collection
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Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument
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A household questionnaire on quality of life and household economics was administered. Slight changes were made to the questionnaire during the survey, while certain questions were deleted and others added to the instrument. These changes to the questionnaires are described in the document "SEGA - household AIDS project". Interviews were conducted with one key respondent only, namely the ‘person responsible for the daily organisation of the household, including household finances’. The first four rounds of interviews were completed in May/June and November/December of 2001 and in July/August and November/December of 2002. Rounds five and six of the study were completed in July/August 2003 and May/June 2004 respectively.

Response rate
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During the first wave of interviews a total of 404 interviews were conducted. During the second wave of data collection, interviews were conducted with 385 households, which translates into an attrition rate of 4.7% (19 households). During wave III, a total of 354 households were interviewed, with 31 households not being reinterviewed (7.7% of the original sample). In wave IV, 55 new households wererecruited into the study, with particular emphasis on an effort to recruit child-headed households into the survey insofar as the sample to date did not include any such households. During waves IV, V and VI a total of 3, 13 and 9 households respectively could not be re-interviewed.

The payment of a minimal participation fee (R150 per household per survey visit) to those households interviewed in each wave, following
the interview and distributed in the form of food parcels, contributed to ensuring sustainability of the sample over the three-year period. The dataset includes data for 331 households interviewed in each of the six rounds of interviews. In almost 90 percent of cases the reasons for attrition are related to migration, given that this study did not intend to follow those households that move outside of the two immediate study areas, i.e. Welkom and Qwaqwa. In the majority of cases, attrition can be ascribed to the failure to establish the current whereabouts of the particular household during follow-up, while in a third of cases it could be established that the household had moved to another country, another province, or another town in the Free State province. Less than ten percent of households had refused to participate in subsequent waves. The reasons for attrition in the original sample illustrate the manner in which migration and the disintegration of households, which are important effects of the epidemic, can act to erode the sample population.

{'Abstract': '本报告通过针对受HIV/AIDS影响家庭的队列研究，对自由州地区HIV/AIDS对家庭的影响进行了评估。调查在自由州省的两个本地社区进行，一为城市社区（威尔科姆），另一为乡村社区（夸夸），两地HIV/AIDS疫情尤为严重。通过对生活质量与家庭经济状况的调研，运用家庭问卷进行了调查。'}