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Article History

Received: 14 February 2022

Accepted: 20 September 2022

First Online: 8 November 2022

Declarations

:

: HIV/AIDS is a sensitive area of study. People living with HIV are often stigmatized within their communities and sometimes reluctant to talk about their illness and treatment. Several approaches were taken to support participation: building rapport with participants, sensitive probing, showing empathy and providing support if upset, ensuring a private place for interviews, assuring that participation is voluntary and can withdraw at any time without fear of repercussion to treatment and care. Confidentiality of participants was vital for such a sensitive study, and all participants were requested to sign an informed consent form before participating in the study. The respondents were all informed that participation was voluntary and that they could decide to leave the study at any time. The participants were reimbursed for transport costs and to compensate for their time. All audio recordings and transcripts were coded and stored in a safe location. All methods were performed following the declaration of Helsinki, and the study was approved by the Sierra Leone Ethics and Scientific review committee of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests whatsoever.