A Review of Resilience and Well-being in HIV Infected Adolescents

     This research paper focuses on the resilience that is showcased by individuals living with HIV infection and speaks about their well-being. The American Psychological Association defines Resilience as successful adaptation by an individual through challenging life events through mental or behavioural adjustments. Unhealthy coping with stress can often lead to deteriorating health for adolescents living with HIV, and this study was aimed at confirming whether a connection existed between resilience exhibited by adolescents infected with HIV and their wellbeing.  The adolescents residing at Snehagram formed the participants in the experiment that the professional researchers conducted.     

    In order to measure the resilience of the adolescents, the researchers (G.S. Sunaina, Sahen Gupta, & K. Sreenath) used the Resilience Scale developed by Prince and Embury (2008), which is divided into 3 subscales - Sense of Mastery Scale (MAS), Sense of Resilience Scale (REL) and the Emotional Reactivity Scale (REA). Along with this, the Subjective Well-Being Inventory (SUBI) developed by Sell and Nagpal was used to measure the level of wellbeing of the adolescents at Snehagram. The participants were required to fill in the inventories, and the data was then analysed. 

    The researchers were looking into three major hypotheses:

  1. The existence of a relationship between resilience and wellbeing in individuals infected with HIV
  2. High and low resilience affect the well-being in individuals infected with HIV
  3. Gender differences exist in the levels of resilience exhibited and the well-being in individuals infected with HIV

    The objective of this study was to gauge the resilience and well-being amongst adolescents living with HIV infection. This is important to assess as ineffective coping to stress causes a deterioration in physical and mental health.

     Adolescents, in general, go through a lot during this stage, be itself and identity formation, career decision and overall changes like puberty. Thus, resilience proves to be very important in this phase for their well-being. 

       The results from the inventories showed that there is no significant relationship between the two variables well-being and resilience, thus rejecting the first hypothesis which stated that there is a relationship between the two in HIV infected adolescents. 

        There was also no impact between well-being and high or low resilience in the HIV population. This was a result that came quite opposite to that of non-HIV infected individuals. On these grounds, the second hypothesis was also rejected. This brought out the need to have a specific intervention to raise the well-being and resilience of this population. 

         Finally, the results showed that in this population, there were no significant differences based on gender when it came to the levels of resilience. Thus the final hypothesis also stands rejected. 

         The lack of efficient resilience in the children can be attributed to the fact that they face significant trauma, including separation from and death of their primary caretakers, stigma due to their medical condition and so on. These grounds will continue to pertain despite administering resilience specific intervention programmes. 

          This study proved that there is no significant relationship between resilience and well-being in HIV infected adolescents. However, this study was conducted in a highly concentrated environment which definitely had an important influence role in the results. It also acts as an important bridging study for more studies in this field. 

References:

Gupta, Sahen & G S, Sunaina & Sreenath, Kuruveetissery. (2019). Resilience and Well-Being among adolescents living with HIV infection. 7. 1646-1650. 


- Sarah Sosa Binoy and Surjo Siddhanta Ray,

CHRIST (Deemed to be University)

 

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