Assessment and Management of Death Anxiety and Self-Esteem among People Living with HIV/AIDS (A Case Study of APIN Clinic, Lagos University Teaching Hospital)

Abstract

The psychological problems of persons living with HIV/AIDS in Nigerian cities have not been systematically documented. This study is a pre-test and post test experimental study of the assessment and management of death anxiety and self esteem (low) among a randomly selected sample of 80 people living with HIV/AIDS and 80 HIV seronegative people in AIDS preventive initiative of Nigeria (APIN) clinic in Lagos University Teaching Hospital Idi-Araba Lagos (LUTH). The main objectives of the study were to determine the presence of psychological distress (death anxiety and low self esteem) among persons living with HIV/AIDS and to assess the effectiveness of psychological interventions in providing relief from these distressing symptoms. The one-way Analysis of variance, the t-independent test and f-scheffe multiple comparison tests were used in analyzing data. The study indicates that there were significantly higher levels of death anxiety and low self esteem among persons living with HIV/AIDS compared with HIV seronegative persons. The most prominent effect of the therapeutic intervention was observed in relation to improvement in self esteem. It was recommended that Governmental Agencies that are saddled with responsibility of giving care to the victims put into consideration the psychological treatment as hallmark to lessen the burden of the disease. Base line should be provided in future studies with novel interventions geared towards improving well being and quality of life among HIV/AIDS persons.

Key words: ANOVA, Death anxiety, Self-esteem, Psychological intervention, Relaxation training.