Informed consent: a study of the impact of relationships on women’s decision-making regarding participating in HIV prevention vaccine trials in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of relationships on women’s decision-making with regard to participating in HIV/AIDS vaccine trials. The sample size was 103 and consisted of women aged between 18-60 years from Inchanga, Pietermaritzburg. The majority of participants were aged between 18-30 (n=39) followed by 28 participants aged between 41-50, while 23 were between 31-40 and 13 were between 51 and 60. Overall, the results showed that 59.2% of women could be regarded as autonomous because of their preparedness to act independently of their husbands’ views in the context of participating in HIV preventive vaccine trials. Furthermore, 64.1% of women who participated in the study said they were prepared to act independently of their relatives’ views in the context of participating in HIV preventive vaccine trials. Results also showed that there was an association between respondents’ marital status and decision-making, as well as level of education and decisionmaking. Higher education was associated with greater willingness to participate in research against husbands’ or relatives’ differing views, while marital status was associated with lower willingness to participate in HIV prevention research as married women were not prepared to go against their husbands’ or relatives’ wishes. Furthermore, the results of the study showed that religious and cultural/ traditional beliefs as well as participants’ fear of physical, emotional, and economic sanctions were associated with power imbalances in relationships.