Zimbabwe (2006): Concurrent Heterosexual Partnerships, HIV Risk and Related Determinants among the General Population, Zimbabwe

To better understand concurrent sexual relationships in Zimbabwe, Population Services International commissioned a qualitative study to increase understanding of potential psycho social determinants for engagement in these relationships. The current study design was guided by PSI's PERForM framework and utilized methodologies from FoQus on Scales (Chapman & Patel, 2004; Population Services International, Zimbabwe, 2007). FoQus on Scales provides a qualitative methodological approach to increase \"emic\" (insiders) perspectives in the processes of describing the contexts of specific health-related behaviors. A stratified purposeful sampling strategy was utilized with stratification based on gender, age (18 to 24 years; 25 to 40 years), and residency (urban; rural). Two types of focus groups were conducted including those designed to identify and de fine emergent determinants (phase one) and those designed to verify and define existing determinants (phase two). A total of twenty four focus groups were conducted with six participants per focus group. Urban participants were from Harare and rural participants were from Nzvimbo, Musiiwa, Shamva, Murehwa, and Mubaira, all located within 200 kilometers of Harare. Semi-structured interview guides were utilized to conduct the focus groups. The data analysis included four primary steps: 1) coding of data; 2) compilation of data by codes; 3) synthesis of the data; and, 4) review of data to develop/adapt definitions for the identified and verified determinants.