Mediators affecting caregiving of people living with HIV/AIDS

Pages: 938-940
Vidyadayini Shetty (Department of Psychology, Nagindas Khandwala College of Arts and Commerce, Malad, Mumbai )
Sushma Mehrotra (Department of Psychology, SNDT, Mumbai)

Presence of family members as caregivers has helped to identify HIV-related medical conditions and bring it to the notice of the health care personnel. Informal caregivers now not only monitor drug adherence but also provide psychological support and care to the HIV infected which has helped in improving their productivity and quality of life. As the informal caregivers are not prepared for the HIV caregiving, neither trained nor compensated, they experience psychological distress which results into symptoms of depression and anxiety. In addition, lack of support, stigma and discrimination heightens the psychological distress experienced by the informal caregivers. Studies on etiology of depression and anxiety indicate a number of demographic variables as predictor variables. The study aims to investigate the relationship of demographic variables such as age, education, and income affecting the caregivers’ depression and anxiety. The sample consisted of 112 informal caregivers from NGOs in Mumbai. The results show that demographic variables such as education and income were associated with elevated levels of depression and anxiety. However, there was no significant relationship found between age and caregiver’s depression and anxiety.