Stigmatization, Stress and Perceived Social Support among People Living with HIV/AIDS

Abstract

The research explored the relationship between Stigmatization, Stress and Perceived social support among people living with HIV/AIDS in TASO Mulago Kampala district. The objectives of the study were three, the first objective was to levels of social support among stigmatized and non stigmatized HIV people in TASO Mulago Kampala district. The second objective was to find out the levels of psychological well being among stigmatized and non stigmatized HIV positive adolescents in TASO Mulago Kampala district. The third objective was to find the relationship between social support and psychological well being among HIV positive adolescents in TASO Mulago Kampala district. A descriptive research design using quantitative approach was used and a random sampling technique was used to select 100 HIV positive respondents on antiretrieval treatment for a period of 1-12 months from TASO Mulago. Data was collected using a self administered questionnaire and analyzed using statistical package for social scientist (spss) whereby Pearson r product moment correlation co efficient was used to test the hypotheses. The key findings were that there was a significant negative relationship between HIV stigma and social support (r =-.437, p =0.05) There was a significant negative between HIV Stigma and psychological well being (r =- .37, p =0.05) and a significant positive relationship between social support and psychological well being (r =.555, p=0.05). The key recommendation was to support HIV positive patients to cope with their situation by providing them with enough social support and fight HIV stigma to avoid low psychological well being.