Table 1.

Themes and quotes.

Theme	Quote
‘If you skip treatment you will die’: Misconceptions and misinformation	At the clinic where we were collecting drugs, they were saying that you don’t need to miss taking drugs and don’t exceed the allocated time for taking drugs, like if you are taking drugs at twenty-one hours then you take at twenty-three hours, this means that you are creating your own problems, because of that I was getting scared knowing that sometimes one may forget or one may be busy at the time they take medicine such that by the time you take the drugs maybe some minutes would have passed, so I was worried that this will be our death now. [Female, 35–44] (Friends) said that when you skip the treatment you will die, while others said when you forget to take them you will die (….), so those who have not yet started, they tend to be scared [Female, 55+] Okay, what happens when you start then you stop, (…) it’s like you’re giving chance to that virus to come with full force (…) And when it comes with full force a lot of illnesses keep coming in. So that’s what I didn’t want because with me I felt it’s better for me like this without such complications, it will be better than starting something which I won’t manage to finish by the end of the day. [Male, 25–34]
‘I need to think’: Preparing for a life-long commitment	I said I need to think about it because you know, it’s not something easy whereby you just wake up and say let me start this. That’s why sometimes you find that people start then they fail to continue or stop. (Female 34–44) At first, because I was scared, thinking … how will I start…at which facility will I start from, so you think of all that, that’s why I was holding back to say I will start taking drugs but needed them (HCWs) to wait for me first. (Female 18–24)
‘I don’t want people to know my status’: Concerns about HIV disclosure	that issue of screaming [calling out names of people waiting for ART at the clinic] affects me because I don’t want people to know my status, I don’t want them to know, for me I don’t! maybe I might get depressed and stop my medicine and that is something I don’t want to do. [Female, 18–24] I could get embarrassed because if you meet someone you know at the clinic then they could tell someone they know, they could be talking in the community that we have found such a person collecting drugs at the clinic, so that is what I was scared of [Female, 35–44]
‘I was feeling well with my health’: Difficulty accepting HIV Diagnosis	‘So, when I went there (VCT), I was told, you are HIV positive, then I said hmm how come? I could not believe it because I was feeling well with my health. Then from there, I went to another clinic to test again’ [Female 45+] R: I didn’t feel good [about diagnosis], and the reason I didn’t feel good is that I looked at my life and what I went through, how I looked after myself…I had not had multiple partners [Female, 25–34] You know the way we look at HIV… [made accepting my HIV status] quite challenging, it was something scary because now I was thinking so I will die soon! Then even when you know the fact that you can’t die if you take your medication and accept your status and you can live long, there is just always that fear, it will just pop into your mind. [Female, 25–34 years]
‘How am I going to manage’: Concerns about ART consumption	By then, people would talk that the drugs, the tablets are big and then I thought about it, because already I have a problem taking drugs like Panadol, I usually break it, how about ARVs how am I going to manage them? [Female, 35–44] because I’ve seen some side effects from some other people I don’t know, you find that others start developing a big tummy or maybe the chest is too big (….). You can even tell just from the way they look that they are on treatment. Yes so I was scared of such side effects so to me it was like a gamble because I didn’t know if I’ll have the same side effects or not. [Female, 25–34]