Peer Supporter Experiences of Home Visits for People with HIV Infection

Purpose: This study’s purpose is to explore the experiences of peer supporters regarding their work on a home visit program for patients with HIV infection.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted using focus groups, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

Results: Five major themes emerged: “feeling a sense of belonging yet concern about the position’s instability,” “facing HIV-related stigma and fear of disclosure,” “reaching out and act as a bridge of hope,” “feeling burnout,” and “need for quality education.” This study showed that although working as a peer supporter has a positive aspect, such as feelings of belonging, they were having difficulties with the position’s instability, work-related stress, and were unhappy about the quality of the continuing education.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that to maintain and strengthen this peer supporter program, it is essential to have the government’s stable financial support. Additionally, it is important to acknowledge peer supporters’ work as valuable and create a supportive environment in which they could feel secure about their job. Helping them to manage their work-related stress or burnout and providing quality continuing education focused on their needs should be a priority. Furthermore, one important step is raising awareness to overcome the HIV-related stigma for people in general as well as people with HIV infection. These efforts will be helpful to empower them to work as an expert and impact positively on quality of care for people with HIV.