The practice of community caregivers in a home‐based HIV/AIDS project in South Africa

• The aim of this study was to describe the practice of community caregivers in a home‐based AIDS care project at seven sites in South Africa. • The community caregivers felt positive about the contribution they made, but found it difficult to cope with the poverty and complexity of problems they were faced with. • They visited each client an average of five times per month, and their care usually involved counselling and informing, symptom control, psychosocial support and welfare assistance. • The caregivers worked in close collaboration with the South African Hospice Association and clinic staff, and each site developed a work pattern suitable to its resources.