All eligible female patients (currently or recently pregnant) attending routine HIV-related appointments will be invited to participate and a participant information sheet will be given. Those who have consented to join the study will be given a short questionnaire to complete and return during that attendance. The questionnaire takes about 15 minutes to complete. The option of returning the questionnaire by post will be available but not encouraged.
During the collection period, women with HIV attending either antenatal (third trimester) or postnatal (within three months of delivery) care will be eligible to participate, but they will only be asked once, either before or after delivery.
Ideally equivalent numbers of pre and postnatal participants will be enrolled. Participants given a questionnaire and have a centre and unique study number. Maternal cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) count and HIV Viral load nearest to time of questionnaire completion will be recorded if patient consents.
Participants will be able to place their completed paper questionnaires in a sealed envelope in a box in the clinic.Participants will be informed that their questionnaire responses will not be seen by clinical staff (unless participants request staff support in completion of the questionnaire) or recorded in their clinical notes. In the clinics the study log will be the only document linking study number with hospital identification (ID)number and soundex. Completed questionnaires will be stored securely in local sites prior to transfer to St Mary's Hospital (by the study team). The study log will be maintained securely along with the delegation log by the site lead investigator.
