Psychological Correlates and Life Satisfaction in HIV Infected Persons in Tiruchirappalli

The aim of this study was to assess the manifestation of Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and life satisfaction in HIV positive persons and to examine their correlates with other factors. The participants were adults (N=309, male-100, female-209), registered with Network for Positive People an NGO in Tamilnadu. The depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS-21, Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, 1985) were administered. The majority of women had contracted the infection from their husbands and were in phase II of HIV/AIDS. Based on group mean, results indicate that the majority of respondents scored 'low' on anxiety, depression, stress as well as their life satisfaction. Highly significant gender-differences were seen on the depression, stress and life satisfaction scores. Bi-variate analysis of data shows that life satisfaction was significantly correlated negatively with the depression, anxiety and stress scores. The duration of the infection correlated negatively with the anxiety score but not with other dimensions. The income of the respondents showed significant negative correlations with depression and stress scores and positive correlation with life satisfaction. The findings indicate areas of intervention while working with this population through the use of appropriate psychotherapeutic procedures to enable HIV positive people to deal with adverse psychological states.