title: 'He lacks his fatherhood': safer conception technologies and the biological imperative for fatherhood among recently-diagnosed Xhosa-speaking men living with HIV in South Africa.
abstract: This paper explores notions of fatherhood and their linkages to fertility desires and intentions among a treatment-naïve cohort of Xhosa-speaking male key informants living with HIV, aged 20-53 in Cape Town, South Africa. Analysis is based on an initial 27, and 20 follow-up, interviews with men who were part of a study that assessed the acceptability of safer conception and alternative parenting strategies among men and women newly diagnosed with HIV to inform an intervention. Grounded theory analysis revealed themes related to the cultural imperative of biologically-connected fatherhood. Certain safer-conception strategies aimed at minimising the risk of HIV transmission were perceived as threats to paternity. These findings suggest that understanding of social and cultural beliefs related to notions of paternity and fatherhood may inform the implementation of acceptable safer-conception options for HIV-positive men and their infected and uninfected female partners in a high-HIV prevalence, low-resource setting.
authors.affiliation: a College of Medicine/Special Treatment and Research Program, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York , Brooklyn , NY , USA.
authors.forename: Tonya N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Joanne E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Mantell
authors.forename: Ntobeko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nywagi
authors.forename: Nomazizi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cishe
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D008875:Middle Aged; D010334:Paternity; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D013019:South Africa