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We sought to understand social representations of effective parenting and parenting self‐efficacy among female HIV‐affected caregivers in rural Eastern Uganda. We conducted in‐depth interviews (n = 21) to describe parenting experiences and caregivers' perceptions of their own parenting abilities and to create vignettes for use in directed focus groups. We carried out open focus groups (n = 2) to gain social perspectives on parenting, and directed focus groups (n = 2) concentrated on parenting self‐efficacy. Analysis involved memoing and inductive and deductive coding of transcripts. Caregivers' perceptions of their own parenting were grounded in parenting values such as providing children with basic needs, having well‐behaved children, and having good relationships with children. Caregivers' perceptions were influenced by challenges, including single parenthood, living with HIV, limited family resources, and mental health problems. When facing challenges, caregivers relied on social support and faith as well as their own parenting confidence. Caregivers' perceptions of their parenting abilities were influenced by how they felt others perceived them, their satisfaction in the parenting role, their perseverance despite challenges, and the extent to which they had a vision for their family. Our findings contextualize parenting self‐efficacy within parenting values, challenges, and social perceptions among HIV‐affected caregivers in rural Uganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]