The Role of Social Support in Coping with HIV

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With the increasing rate of people becoming infected with HIV/AIDS, it is vital that we are aware of the importance of developing coping strategies to help these patients. It is evident that social support from friends, family and the community at large needs to be rendered to help these people infected with the disease. It also, however, needs to be noted, that social support may not always be useful for people living with HIV/AIDS. We will explore both aspects, good and bad, to social support and discuss the stigma attached to the disease. In most cases however, social support is viewed positively and actually benefits the person suffering with HIV/AIDS. The effects of social support will also never be the same or as effective as another due to the unpredictable nature and stages of the disease.

The stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS is one of the main reasons people suffering from the disease do not reach out in order to receive social support. HIV/AIDS is seen as the disease that is mainly to do with risky sexual behaviour such as prostitution, gay men and drug users. This stigma makes it hard for people suffering with the disease to accept the fact that they are HIV positive and also makes it more difficult to fight the epidemic globally (Avert.org, 2014). This adds to the list of many stressors arising once a person is infected with HIV/AIDS.

Some of the stressors these people suffering with HIV/AIDS might face are the diagnosis itself, unemployment, the breakdown of relationships and the ongoing treatment and illnesses that are linked to the disease. It is therefore important for these sufferers to have a chain of support. Each link would provide a different type of support namely emotional, informative and instrumental.

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...6). Coping and social support as determinants of quality of life in HIV/AIDS care, 8, 15-31.

Green, G. (1993). Editorial review: Social support and HIV. AIDS Care, 5 (1), pp. 87--104.

Leserman, J., Jackson, E. D., Petitto, J. M., Golden, R. N., Silva, S. G., Perkins, D. O., Cai, J., Folds, J. D. & Evans, D. L. (1999). Progression to AIDS: the Effects of Stress, Depressive Symptoms, and Social Support. Psychosomatic Medicine, 61 (3), pp. 397-406.

Mizuno, Y., Purcell, D. W., Dawson-Rose, C., Parsons, J. T. & Team (2003). Correlates of depressive symptoms among HIV-positive injection drug users: the role of social support. AIDS Care, 15 (5), pp. 689-698.

Schreurs, K. M. G. & De Ridder, D. T. D. (1997). Integration of Coping and Social Support Perspectives: Implications for the Study of Adaptation to Chronic Disease. Clinical Psychology Review, 17 (1), pp. 89-112.

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