Exploring students? experiences of an HIV/AIDS service learning module: A qualitative study at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa

This critical interpretivist case study explored students? experiences of an HIV/AIDS service learning module run in the School of Psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The study was originally initiated in response to a request from CHESP to evaluate this module. It has since become an independent study with the purpose of exploring the kind of learning (HIV specific) that students gained from the module. A number of studies have attempted to explore students? experiences of service learning through students? evaluations, or have focused on the effects of the community intervention on the community. These are often of a quantitative nature and do not engage with students’ experiences on a deeper level. They also tend to focus on measuring students? knowledge and understandings of HIV/AIDS. The objective of this study was to qualitatively explore whether students had experienced a genuine engagement in the service learning module, focusing on their level of reflection on their identities, their understandings of self and other, and their understandings of their own location within the HIV/AIDS epidemic.