Abstract: The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) have become a serious problem for developing and developed countries alike in recent years. A high level of Stigma and discrimination from the society to the children from PLHIV families, who may need to attend to the needs of their family or to attend to an ill family member, undermines children’s access to social benefits. The quality of education is likewise undermined, since children’s concentration is often directed towards personal problems at home rather than lessons, and fear of, or actual, community stigmatization towards the PLHIV family member in question. This Paper sought to examine knowledge of HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination, attitudes towards the children affected by HIV/AIDS. For children affected by AIDS, one psychological challenge is whether or how to disclose their parents’ HIV status to others. The findings indicated that a high proportion of children preferred not to disclose parental HIV status to others would not like to tell the truth to others in the situations of having talk about parental HIV and also had strong negative feelings about the disclosure. The study findings confirmed that keeping secrecy of parental HIV infection was associated with higher level of negative psychological outcomes (e.g., depression, loneliness, perceived stigma, and enacted stigma), and children’s age was strongly associated with both their perceptions of secondary disclosure and psychological measures. This paper comprehensively reviews the psychosocial issues of the PLHIVs children and offers some of the strategies to address the issues comprehensively.
Culturally and developmentally appropriate evidence-based interventions are urgently needed to promote the psychological well-being of children affected by HIV/AIDS.
Keywords: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), PLHIVs children.
Title: Psychological Impacts of the Society on Children of PLHIVs
Author: Deepak Sharma, Prof.DD Aggarwal
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
Research Publish Journals
