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.