The Effect of Group Counselling on the Psychological Adjustment of People Living With HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of group counselling on the psychological adjustment of people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. Specifically, the study will aim:
- To examine the contribution of counseling in abating the spread of HIV and AIDS
- To determine the psychological and social issues associated with living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
- To determine if there is gender difference in the psychosocial behavior of people exposed to group counseling.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Concept, Meaning and Nature of HIV/AIDS.
HIV/AIDs are two different acronyms describing two relatedconcepts. There are different illnesses caused by viruses which may not be HIV. These include, among others, cold (catarrh), measles,hepatitis A, B, and C, Chicken pox, polio and so on. Thehuman immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS is a type of virus calledretrourus. It is very tiny to see with the naked eyes except with thehelp of an instrument called microscope. Garland (2003) posits that HIV is so small that it could be 230,000 viruses at the point of a pen or on a full stop at the end of a sentence.
Origin of HIV/AIDS
The origin of HIV/AIDS is not known, but scientists have proposed theories about the origin of HIV/AIDS but none has yet been proven. Haan (2004) states that the earliest known case of HIV was from a blood sample collected in 1959 from a man in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Genetic analysis of this blood sample suggested that HIV-1 may have stemmed from a single virus in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Haan (2004) went on to state that the virus existed in the United States by the mid-to late 1970. Doctors in Los Angeles and New York reported illnesses of Pneumonia, Cancer and others among people with healthy immune system. In 1982, AIDS was used by health officials to describe the occurrence of such opportunistic infections as Kaposis sarcoma and pneumocysticcarnnii (pneumonia) in previously healthy people. That was the year the formal tracking (surveillance) of AIDS cases began in the United States of America.
However, scholars claimed that the ultimate source of HIV/AIDS was the Sub- Saharan African continent. It is said that this region continues to be deeply ravaged by the
disease. Bankole and Singh(2004) confirmed the above statement and added that the SubSaharan African has been more devastated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic than any world region. Garland (2003) presented explanation of the HIV/AIDS acronym thus:
H – Stands for Human:-the Virus is only found in humans, it is not found in animals or insects.
I – Stands for Immunodeficiency:- this means, the virus reduces the immune system. White blood cells in the blood are part of the immune system. They are the soldiers that attack germs that enter the body.
V – Stands for Virus: means they are the smallest of all micro-organisms and hundreds of times smaller than a bacterium or malaria parasite.
The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS is the final stage of the disease. It continues in the human body till death. It can be explained thus:
A – Stands for Acquired: this indicates that its victims did notinherit it.
I&D- Stand for Immune Deficiency respectively; this shows that its victims have a common characteristic of a breakdown in theirbody immunity.
S – Stands for syndrome-covers the case of rare but ravaging diseases that take defences.
Raen (2004) on the other hand states that the disease is a syndrome because it consists of several signs and symptoms. Both mean the same as the signs and symptoms are as a result of the different kinds of diseases that attacks the body.
HIV is said to attack the body defences (white blood cells) especially the type called CD4 cells, they are like the coordinators of the immune system where they serve as eyes and ears or rather telephone of the body‘s army. Garland (2003) states that the HIV virus attaches itself to the cell and later penetrates into it. Having entered the CD4 cell, it
quickly multiplies by using the cells‘ own production ―factories‖ to make copies of itself, and eventually kills the CD4ce11s. The CD4 working in the body of a healthy person is supposed to be between 650 and 1250. When a person‘s count dropsbelow 200, the person is said to have AIDS, but when the count drops to about 35O, doctors usually prescribe some anti-retroviral drug therapy. When the CD4 cells are destroyed, the whole immune system does not work in harmony, this allows many different infections to enter the body and destroy it.
Ahmadu (2007) states that there are two genetically and immunologically distinct human deficiency viruses, which have been discovered as causing HIV/AIDS disease. These are HIV – 1 and HIV – 2 which remains the dominant virus associated with AIDS in West Africa. An increasing number of different strains of both HIV – 1 and HIV – 2 are identified by molecular virology and by phenotype in cells culture. This increase is due to minor differences in the molecular structure of the virus.
CHAPTER THREE
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Research Design
The descriptive cross sectional research design was employed to investigate the effect of group counseling on the psychological behavior of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
Population of Study
The population of study comprised HIV/AIDS infected adults undergoing treatment in Heart to Heart centers/primary health cenres in Ugep, Ekori, Mkpani and Assiga, who were 25 years and above at the time of this study.
Sampling Procedure
The study employed the purposive and accidental sampling techniques. The purposive sampling technique was used to purposively select only people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), while accidental sampling technique was employed during questionnaire administration, such that in every selected Heart to Heart centers/primary health centers, only patients (both males and females) encountered at the period of visits were administered copies of the questionnaire. This approach was used since it was impossible to get together people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The people encountered were grouped by the researcher into two groups: group counseling and individual counseling, this was such that first-ten encountered patients were treated as group counseling, and the next ten as individual counseling and so on. In all, a total of 120 copies of questionnaire (60 copies each to males and females) were administered (30 from each of the four elected centers).
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Demographic Characteristics of Respondents
The demographic characteristics of respondents in regards to sex, age, marital status, education, and occupation show that 50% are males while 50% are females. The ages of respondents in the area indicate that 22.5% (27) are between the ages of 25-30, 42.5% (51) are between 31-36 years, 19.2% fall between 37-42 years, while 14.2% (17) are above 42 years. The result demonstrates that 27.5% of the respondents are married, 59.2% are unmarried, while 13.3% are widows, widowers and divorced. The implication is that majority of the respondents are unmarried and fall within productive and reproductive population, as are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDs infection due to youthful exuberance.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
This study has shown evidently that group counseling is an effective curative intervention for people living with HIV/AIDS. This is because group counseling plays an important role by allowing PLWHA to share experiences with one another as well as help patients cope with their emotional responses. Counseling people in group can help people with HIV share their feelings about secrecy and stigma and consider how these influence their emotional and physical health. With increasing recognition of psychological and social issues as core elements in a holistic model of health care, group counseling would be vital to improve the quality of life of PLWHA. The merits of group counseling as an intervention for people living with HIV/AIDS cannot be underestimated as they far outweigh their demerits. Therefore, HIV/AIDS counselors should be well versed in group counseling as a proactive measure for the counseling of people living with HIV/AIDS. The effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic will be felt for generations because so many children of those affected are being deprived of adequate nurturing, nutrition, education and role models, but through this approach they will get to know one another to form social networks. In accordance with the result obtained, the following are suggested to encourage HIV/AIDS counseling:
- Comprehensive support system linking and co-coordinating existing psychosocial services as well as building community capacities to provide counseling and support should be provided to ensure sustainability, continuity of interventions and community development.
- In order to aid psychosocial adjustment, people living with HIV/AIDS should be encouraged to bring along others known to be infected with the virus to attend group counseling sessions. This would help to reduce risk behaviors.
- Group counseling should complement individual counseling. At the rate at which the HIV is spreading, group counseling is the most efficient approach in the counseling people living with HIV/AIDS.
- Group counseling should form an integral part of HIV counselors’ training.
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