A systematic review of HIV/ AIDS related stigma among children and youth living with HIV

Pages: 1961-1967
Varsha Singh and Swaran Lata (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar PradeshC)

HIV/AIDS-related stigma is one of the significant obstacles to HIV prevention attempts in the world. Children and Youth infected with HIV/AIDS are particularly more prone to stigma and discrimination because of lack of knowledge about the disease and their rights. The objective of the present review article is to explore the researches and studies related to HIV/ AIDS related stigma among children and youth living with HIV/AIDS and highlighting major findings. A detailed review and critical evaluation of published empirical studies from various databases such as PubMed, PsycINFO and online published data of several organizations were accessed for through survey, internet searches, and online journals related to HIV/AIDS related Stigma have been accessed till date to present the current state of research and development in this area. The outcome of database search resulted in 74 potentially relevant articles related to HIV/AIDS stigma. Among these, only eight articles were found applicable and met the inclusion criteria of assessing the HIV/AIDS related stigma of HIV/ AIDS children and youth. These studies concluded that HIV/AIDS related stigma is negatively associated with (a) medical adherence, (b) disclosure of HIV status, (c) health care satisfaction, (d) coping strategies and (e) social support and positively correlated with depressive symptoms among children and youth living with HIV/AIDS. The stigma associated with HIV/AIDS is a major risk for the prevention and intervention efforts for enhancing the psychological health and well-being of HIV/AIDS children and Youth.