Stigmatization, self-esteem and mental well-being among people living with HIV/AIDs

Abstract

Background: HIV/AIDS is a major cause for concern with an estimated prevalence of 36.7 million HIV-positive persons worldwide in 2016 with a total of 1 million deaths globally. The infection affects self-esteem, mental wellbeing and the victims also are stigmatized. This study aimed to determine the relationship between Stigmatization, Self-Esteem and Mental Health Well-Being among People Living with HIV/AIDS. Method: This was a cross-sectional survey involving collection of data from the HIV patients in different ART clinic will be visited. These clinics offer comprehensive antiretroviral therapy (ART) to adults and children. This study used self-answered questionnaires to interview a total of 384 patients. Collected data was entered and cleaned in Microsoft excel 2016 and exported to SPSS (Version 21) for further analyses. Descriptive analysis and Pearson correlational analysis was done to assess the relationship between Stigmatization, Self-esteem and Mental wellbeing among people living with HIV. Results: This study interviewed a total of 384 participants. We found that there was significant relationship between stigmatization and self-esteem (r= -0.471, p= 0.00), there was significant relationship between stigmatization and mental well-being (r= -0.106, p= 0.038), and there was significant relationship between self-esteem and mental well-being (r= 0.247, p= 0.00). Conclusion: Stigmatization, Self-esteem and Mental wellbeing are important factors that influence people living with HIV. Key words: Stigmatization, Self-esteem, Mental wellbeing, People living with HIV.